By David M. Hale | ESPN.com

Georgia Tech fans won't need to hit the ATM to pay for snacks and drinks at games soon, as the school reached a deal to become the first college program to use bitcoin for concessions sales.

Fans at Bobby Dodd Stadium will be able to use online currency for concessions.
The school announced the agreement Wednesday with BitPay, a bitcoin processing company. It will allow fans to purchase concessions in the student section at Bobby Dodd Stadium using the Internet currency beginning with Saturday night's game against Miami.

.....cont

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11622587/georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-first-program-use-bitcoin-stadium-concessions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOsR5G9CH0w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg News’ Megan Hughes reports on the possibility of a Bitcoin exchange joining the financial services offered by the United States Postal Service on Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop.”

According to Enforcement Directorate of India, Buysellbitco.in and RBItco were violating Foreign Exchange Management; both Bitcoin websites have suspended services

World’s most debated virtual currency – Bitcoin, manages to make it to the headlines once again. The Directorate General of Economic Enforcement or Enforcement Directorate of India raided the offices of Buysellbit.co.in and RBItco post under the charges of violation of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), according to reports by Indian website Medianama. The raids were conducted by Enforcement Directorate in Ahmedabad, the capital city of North Western Indian state Gujarat.
The report further states that the enforcement agency pointed out that around 1,000 transactions were made by 400 people through the Buysellbitco.in alone. Post the raid, both RBItco and BuySellBitco.in have suspended their services.
The raid comes close on the heels of an advisory issued by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the trade of virtual currencies such as litecoins, bbqcoins, dogecoins and Bitcoin. In the light of growing Bitcoin transactions and constant fear of a potential international black market through Bitcoin, The advisory warned that RBI be will not regulating any such virtual currencies.

The advisory also warned people who were dealing with the currency in India of the risks involved, saying that they’re exposing them to financial, legal, operational and security related risk. Followed by the warning a number of Bitcoin dealers suspended their services.

READ MORE.....

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/setback-bitcoin-india-raids-websites-offices-120348062.html

I'm just the messenger, but I understand Cummins59 frustrations. Hopefully by putting his story out there, CloudHashing.com will give in to his request or lose whatever potential business they might of gotten.

Since BTC has gone "mainstream" its brought out a lot of bad unscrupulous practices by a bunch of questionable companies. Now I'm not saying that CloudHashing.com is a scam, but these people need to realize that the customers are the heart of their businesses.

The Bitcoin mining company CloudHashing.com announced today the first guarantee in the cloud mining space along with 2014 pricing which undercuts all cloud-based competitors.

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - In the Bitcoin mining industry, where projections but not promises are the norm, CloudHashing.com's announcement could shake up an already extremely competitive industry at a time when Bitcoin is becoming more mainstream.

The company announced that customers can now pre-order cutting-edge Bitcoin mining contracts at a cost of just $9.49 per Gigahash/sec guaranteed to begin Feb. 15 or full refunds will be given. This cost-per-Gigahash is significantly less than anything announced, and CloudHashing.com's established track record of delivering cloud mining services since July makes the announcement a potential game changer.

Additionally, CloudHashing.com announced a reduction in its mining pool fee from ten percent to three percent along with the elimination of management fees. These fees are used to pay for electricity and maintenance in the datacenters.

"Our mission at CloudHashing.com is to bring Bitcoin mining to everyone in an easy and affordable way," said Emmanuel Abiodun, founder and chief executive officer. "By building our newest datacenter at such a massive scale using the latest technology, we are able to make these kinds of guarantees where others can't."

The Dallas, Texas datacenter Abiodun has built is based upon the latest CoinTerra 28nm ASIC architecture at an unprecedented scale. Through the unique relationship CloudHashing.com has built with CoinTerra and others, they are able to scale with demand in a nimble way to bring hashing power to market very quickly.

CloudHashing.com's announcement comes on the heels of their company recently being featured in the New York Times article "Into the Bitcoin Mines".

Cloudhashing.com is a Bitcoin mining technology company where customers can purchase mining contracts and earn bitcoins via their website. It is a pioneer in the Bitcoin industry and was the first to introduce cloud-based Bitcoin mining. The London-based company has thousands of customers worldwide.

Bitcoin is an increasingly popular online currency and technology that is changing the way many are purchasing things online in the same way the World Wide Web revolutionized how people connect to one another.

This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/CloudHashing/Bitcoin/prweb11456205.htm

Contact:
CloudHashing.com
Michael Hatfield
michael@cloudhashing.com
+1 757-903-1972

Bitcoin ASIC manufacturer HashFast facing lawsuits over alleged false advertising, fluctuating Bitcoin prices

A group of Bitcoin miners that bought into the hype surrounding one particular manufacturer, HashFast, are reportedly examining legal options after the company repeatedly failed to deliver on its hardware and is only now beginning to ship products promised in October (and refusing to give full refunds). The problems illustrate many of the teething problems within the Bitcoin network, as well as the fundamental difficulty of making money by mining the cryptocurrency.

The Bitcoin mining network fundamentally transformed in two key ways in 2013. First, the difficulty of mining Bitcoins exploded in the back half of the year, driving profits through the floor in terms of earnings per megahash. Second, the value of a BTC has skyrocketed, crashed, and then continued towards recovery. These two events are logically connected — a huge jump in mining difficulty should increase the value of one BTC, if the currency is to hold any value whatsoever.

READ MORE......

http://www.extremetech.com/uncategorized/173772-bitcoin-asic-manufacturer-hashfast-facing-lawsuits-over-alleged-false-advertising-fluctuating-bitcoin-prices

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU#t=1392

Over the centuries systems have been subtly modified, manipulated and even corrupted often to serve the interests of the few. We've continually accepted these changes and because man can adjust to living under virtually any conditions, the trait that's enabled us to survive is the very trait that's suppressed us. For centuries gatekeepers have manipulated our cognitive map. But in 1989 a computer scientist by the name of Tim Berners-Lee implemented the first successful communication between an HTTP client and server.
The World Wide Web was born. It is since unleashed a tsunami of instantly accessible, freely available information. Just as Gutenberg's printing press wrestled control of the cognitive map away from ecclesiastical and royal elite, today the Internet is beginning to change Governments, finance and the media. We are on the brink of change, but to enact it we must first understand the things that have been left unsaid for so long. To do that we need context from people who speak the truth in the face of collective delusion, because to understand something is to be liberated from it.
Empires do not begin or end on a certain date, but they do end and the West has not yet come to terms with its fading supremacy. At the end of every empire under the guise of renewal, tribes, armies and organizations appear and devour the heritage of the former superpower often from within. In his essay, The Fate of Empires, the soldier, diplomat and traveler, Lieutenant-General Sir John John Glubb analyzed the lifecycle of empires. He found remarkable similarities between them all. An empire lasts about 250 years, or 10 generations, from the early pioneers to the final conspicuous consumers who become a burden on the state.
Six ages define the lifespan of an empire: the age of pioneers, the age of conquests, the age of commerce, the age of affluence, the age of intellect, ending with bread and circuses in the age of decadence. There are common features to every age of decadence: an undisciplined and over extended military, the conspicuous display of wealth, a massive disparity between rich and poor, a desire to live off a bloated state, and an obsession with sex. But perhaps the most notorious trait of all is the debasement of the currency. The United States and Great Britain both begun on a gold or silver standard, long since abandoned. Rome was no different.
Great empire wealth always dazzles, but beneath the surface the unbridle desire for money, power and material possessions means that duty and public service are replaced by leaders and citizens who scramble for the spoils.

Sometimes the future can sneak up on you. Like when you find out that a startup incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, whose employees live in New Hampshire and whose products are made in Portugal, is selling digital-currency ATMs to Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

These are only two of the countries that have purchased Bitcoin ATMs from manufacturer Lamassu, which announced Monday that it had sold 120 of the machines to customers all over the world. A map Lamassu created to mark the occasion, showing the far-flung sales locations of its Bitcoin ATMs, not coincidentally illustrates the global appeal of Bitcoin.

Zach Harvey, Lamassu's chief executive, said as much in a press release. "We will be shipping to 25 different countries, ranging from Canada to Kyrgyzstan, and we've translated our user interface into more than a dozen languages, including Russian, Chinese and Friulian," Harvey said.

Lamassu has delivered about a dozen ATMs so far, with plans to ship the others in spring 2014



Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230589#ixzz2p2WUc3fU

Bitcoin exchanges suspend operations in India amid govt warning
Summary: India's Bitcoin trading platforms, including the largest, have suspended services following a recent public warning by the central bank over the risks of virtual currencies.

India's largest bitcoin trading platform has suspended its operations, citing a recent public advisory by the central bank highlighting the risks of virtual currencies, according to The Hindu.

The closure of BuySellBitCo.in, which sees about 12 million rupees of Bitcoin transactions monthly, has spooked a number of other trading platforms including INRBTC to stop services indefinitely.

READ MORE

http://www.zdnet.com/in/bitcoin-exchanges-suspend-operations-in-india-amid-govt-warning-7000024648/

1. Bitcoin is huge

For all the talk and hype, bitcoin is tiny with a total value of just $10.8 billion. That compares to the total stock of U.S. dollar at $800 billion, Colas said in a report. There's also about $4 trillion in global currency traded every day.



2. Bitcoin enables drugs and terrorism

Colas argues that bitcoin is "way too volatile" for the average drug dealer or terrorist. That's not to say that "some enterprising dealers" don't use it, but if it was widespread Colas contends its value would be "$10,000 or higher" compared to Friday morning's trading value of about $800.

3. Bitcoin is a currency

This is perhaps the most contentious observation, as bitcoin is often referred to as a "cryptocurrency." Colas offers that bitcoin is "a system much more than a 'currency'" in which holders agree to take part in a transaction of value.

Banking analyst Dick Bove may have been more to the point, where in a recent analysis he called bitcoin a "low-cost replacement for credit cards and other payment mechanisms." There are virtually no costs involved with bitcoin transactions, as opposed to wire transfers, for instance.

4. Bitcoin has never been more volatile than now

Untrue, according to a chart Colas prepared analyzing bitcoin's one-month returns and standard deviation. It actually was more volatile in May 2011, before most people even had heard of bitcoin.


5. Chinese citizens can't buy bitcoins

BTC China has been one of the most dominant exchanges for bitcoin, with nearly 10 million transactions over the past month, according to bitcoincharts. That's despite a government ban on financial institutions handling such transactions.

6. Bitcoin is not a store of value

This is an expression often given to gold and silver, and Colas said it does not apply to bitcoin. "Bitcoin may one day prove it deserves to sit alongside those assets," he said. "It isn't there yet."

7. Bitcoin is untraceable

Bitcoin transactions happen online. Enough said. (Though Colas does offer: "If you think anything you do online is secret, I can't help you.")

8. Losing anonymity will render bitcoin useless

Conversely, traceability doesn't dim bitcoin's allure, which is really in its low or no-cost transactions.


9. It's a Ponzi scheme

No, it isn't. Ponzi schemes have no other intent than to defraud. There's no evidence to suggest that bitcoin is in the same boat, despite the strong price volatility and attraction for speculators. The Federal Reserve has noted the "potentially significant positive social value" of bitcoin, Colas noted.

10. Bitcoin is "ready for prime time"

No, it isn't. As Bove, Colas and numerous others have pointed out, bitcoin won't get legit until price volatility gets tamped down and a truly safe, mainstream storage place emerges. Colas suggests banks, Paypal or Apple come up with a storage device.

11. Something better will kill bitcoin

This one doesn't get so much play, but it's worth considering. Bove has contended that being first gives bitcoin a tremendous competitive advantage, and Colas echoes that point. "There are other online money transfer products out there, of course, and more to come," he said. "The challenges will be the same for all of them: security, utility and legal compliance."

The quest to meet those challenges likely means bitcoin remains a serious story for 2014.

"I absolutely understand why there are so many bitcoin haters out there. But don't hate the player; hate the game," Colas said. "Technology is a tremendously disruptive force in society, and it knows no boundaries. It disturbs every status quo. That's what is does. Just don't make the mistake of thinking that you can reverse it by calling it a bubble."

-By CNBC's Jeff Cox. Follow him on Twitter @JeffCoxCNBCcom .

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2013/12/28/do-you-really-know-bitcoin-here-are-11-myths/

Take two of 2013's biggest Internet sensations -- bitcoins and the Shiba Inu puppy nicknamed "Doge" -- and smash them together. What you get is Dogecoin, a virtual currency that was hacked during the holidays.

Although 21 million dogecoins were lost in the heist, they only amounted to about $12,000 in value. In comparison, bitcoins are now valued at close to $750 a piece, and a bitcoin hack in November lost 4,100 bitcoins, totaling $1.2 million.The hack caught Jackson Palmer, a co-founder of the currency, by surprise. "It's interesting that there has been a focus [on dogecoins] in the short two or three weeks we've been up and running," he said. "I think it's crazy that it can happen, but maybe these hackers are trying to get in early."

He and the other co-founder of Dogecoin, Billy Markus, are looking to beef up security in the next month, Palmer added.

Even though the idea of dogecoins started as a joke, Palmer said, it has grown in popularity. "For the majority of their people, it's their first experience with cryptocurrency," he told ABC News. "It's a lot more accessible and the majority of people are having a lot of fun with it."
A single dogecoin might only be worth a fraction of a penny, but Palmer does see it being useful as a currency, though maybe not in the real world.

"People are trading coins for small purchases, like in an online game where you can purchase a different set of armor," he said. "I think that's a really good place [for Dogecoin]."

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/bitcoin-alternative-dogecoin-hacked-21-million-coins-stolen/story?id=21342612

Company Asks Bankruptcy Judge to Set Jan. 8 Deadline for Offers

Officials at Alydian want to begin taking offers for their new 36 bitcoin-mining rigs, which rapidly fell behind the technological power of competitors who are also trying to make money by unlocking the virtual currency.

In papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle, Alydian officials asked a judge to set a Jan. 8 deadline for offers on the company's bitcoin-mining rigs, which calculate algorithms for users trying to find the 3,600 bitcoins that are released into the currency's system each day.

The Bainbridge Island, Wash., startup said it has spent roughly $4 million on developing the mining technology. Alydian's mining rigs are occupying space within three Washington data centers, which have access to the electricity and powerful cooling systems that prevent the equipment from overheating.

Alydian officials didn't directly state a price for the mining rigs but said that the technology "may be sold for a minimum bid" of $2,000 per terahash, which is a measurement of a system's speed. Alydian said it has about 200 terahashes for sale, according to court papers.

Managing director Peter Vessenes said in court papers that the price of mining is falling, likely because of the recent drop in price for bitcoin itself.

"Market prices have dropped from $70,000-80,000 per [terahash] to $40,000 per [terahash] in the last few weeks," he told the court.

Under the proposed sale rules, buyers would be able to pay for their purchases using cash or bitcoins. Officials asked Bankruptcy Judge Karen Overstreet to look over the proposal to make sure that the deadlines are fair enough to promote competition.

Bitcoin miners check the time stamp of bitcoin transactions to make sure people aren't using the coins more than once or are spending bitcoins they don't have. The miners are rewarded with bitcoins that they come across in the process.

Last year, Alydian officials began building a large bitcoin-mining operation and found customers who offered to buy the bitcoins that would eventually be mined.

Yet, its fresh technology quickly became outdated. Alydian officials were surprised as competitors' speedier mining systems outpaced their technology, according to court papers.

Alydian also had to face more competition from bitcoin miners who cropped up as the currency grew in both value and acceptance. Some merchants now take bitcoin as payment.

In a November court document, Alydian said it had only mined about 3,041 bitcoins—not enough to fill customer orders. Officials told a judge they couldn't afford to buy bitcoins outright to give to customers because the price has risen so dramatically.

Bitcoins traded above $800 apiece on one index on Thursday morning, while Alydian had promised one customer that it could buy 5,000 bitcoins for about $7.36 each, according to court papers. Another signed up for 13,468 bitcoins at $7.42 per coin.

Alydian filed for Chapter 11 protection on Nov. 1 to try to get out of its customer contracts. Bankruptcy protection allows companies to break legally binding contracts with a judge's permission.

The bankruptcy filing caught the attention of the bitcoin community for its ties to CoinLab, which owns 65% of Alydian. CoinLab has won credibility with some venture capitalists who decided to invest in it.

CoinLab leader Peter Vessenes, who signed Alydian's bankruptcy petition, is also chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit trade group that has gained attention in recent months for promoting bitcoin and supporting new rules aimed at making it more widely accepted.

Write to Katy Stech at katherine.stech@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303345104579282600553585842

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hfEBupAeo4#t=151

The United States fought the American Revolution primarily over King George III's Currency act, which forced the colonists to conduct their business only using printed bank notes borrowed from the Bank of England at interest.
After the revolution, the new United States adopted a radically different economic system in which the government issued its own value-based money, so that private banks like the Bank of England were not siphoning off the wealth of the people through interest-bearing bank notes.
But bankers are nothing if not dedicated to their schemes to acquire your wealth, and know full well how easy it is to corrupt a nation's leaders.
Just one year after Mayer Amschel Rothschild had uttered his infamous "Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who makes the laws", the bankers succeeded in setting up a new Private Central Bank called the First Bank of the United States, largely through the efforts of the Rothschild's chief US supporter, Alexander Hamilton.

 

Announcements

Today is the release of our full pricing, shipping, terms and all the helpful information you would need to secure a pre-order, this can all be found in the 'Terms of Order' page. We will be taking a 30% deposit payment, and remainder 70% to be paid 8-10 weeks before shipment. Minimum chip specifications have been confirmed from our ASIC manufacturer using Global Foundries as our foundry. In regards to our devices, we have confirmed a lower power consumption than quoted previously and also a guarantee of minimum hash rate. this can all be found in the individual Product pages. Please read the Terms of Order page, and individual Products pages carefully.

To summarise some other things:

Viper-5mh/s which can hash at minimum 5 MH/s: £1350 (inc VAT) Deposit- £405 (inc VAT)

Viper-25mh/s which can hash at minimum 25 MH/s: £5450 (inc VAT) Deposit- £1635 (inc VAT)

ASIC Chip Specs

Process: 28nm/40nm HPP, 3.3v/1.8v

Internal Memory: >=128Mb SRAM

Gates: ~28M Gates

Clock Speed: > 600 Mhz Core Clock

Hashing Cores: >= 128

Chip Hash rate: > 350 Kh/s

Power Consumption: < 5w

https://alpha-t.net/news/development-update-23122013/

Announcements

Today is the release of our full pricing, shipping, terms and all the helpful information you would need to secure a pre-order, this can all be found in the 'Terms of Order' page. We will be taking a 30% deposit payment, and remainder 70% to be paid 8-10 weeks before shipment. Minimum chip specifications have been confirmed from our ASIC manufacturer using Global Foundries as our foundry. In regards to our devices, we have confirmed a lower power consumption than quoted previously and also a guarantee of minimum hash rate. this can all be found in the individual Product pages. Please read the Terms of Order page, and individual Products pages carefully.

To summarise some other things:

Viper-5mh/s which can hash at minimum 5 MH/s: £1350 (inc VAT) Deposit- £405 (inc VAT)

Viper-25mh/s which can hash at minimum 25 MH/s: £5450 (inc VAT) Deposit- £1635 (inc VAT)

ASIC Chip Specs

Process: 28nm/40nm HPP, 3.3v/1.8v

Internal Memory: >=128Mb SRAM

Gates: ~28M Gates

Clock Speed: > 600 Mhz Core Clock

Hashing Cores: >= 128

Chip Hash rate: > 350 Kh/s

Power Consumption: < 5w

https://alpha-t.net/news/development-update-23122013/

比特幣受遏 無礙電子貨幣發展
撰文:劉家明 麥肯錫公司董事
欄名:科網神話再現

比特幣Bitcoin經過兩周的大起大落，從超過1,000美元的高位在短短幾天下跌了50%。

觸發暴跌主要原因，是因為中國政府禁止內地銀行處理以人民幣兌換Bitcoin，因而令「中國大媽」恐慌性拋售，觸發全球Bitcoin價格下跌。

雖然唱好Bitcoin走勢的陣營不斷打氣，但各國官方態度保守，所以Bitcoin應在短期內持續降溫。但電子貨幣並不會因此完全停止發展，如LiteCoin、TerraCoin，或以金本位作保證的Coeptis等不同的電子貨幣將會應運而生，慢慢發展為一個另類金融生態。

雖然電子貨幣發展至今一波幾折，但電子支付其實已在我們生活中比比皆是。港人生活中不可缺少的八達通便是電子支付的一種。香港在這方面起步比較早，在多年前已有世界各地的官員來港取經，了解八達通在港發展路徑及可借鑑地方。

在內地電子支付亦因電子商務的誕生而漸趨流行。內地大部分智能手機用戶已裝置的微信服務，最近便啟動了內置支付功能。用戶用微信帳號綁定銀行戶口後，在網上購物時便可以用微信電子支付。

阿里巴巴的支付寶最近亦推出同類型服務，用戶並可以在實體商店掃描二維碼直接經支付寶帳號從銀行扣取款項用以支付。馬雲最近更親自現身，在內地的銀泰百貨示範進行電子支付。事件被內地傳媒廣泛報道，可謂電子支付在內地發展的一個重要事件簿。

傳統零售發展緩慢 成機遇

另一電子支付發達的地方，是非洲的肯尼亞。當地銀行服務並不普及，但手機普及率高，因此當地最大電訊商Safricom在2007年推出了本為P2P轉帳平台的M-Pesa。其後M-Pesa逐漸增加不同的服務，包括網上帳單支付、電子購物等。M-Pesa平台在推出18個月已吸引了1,500萬用戶，發展至今，每年處理200億美元的現金交易。同類型的電子支付及轉帳服務在菲律賓也非常普遍。

這可印證在科技引領下，有時起步愈慢，leapfrog的機會愈高。內地電子商務發展一日千里，主因是傳統零售市場發展緩慢。而非洲的電子支付發展正是因為傳統銀行覆蓋率低，為像M-Pesa等的服務帶來發展空間。

專家預測未來電子支付還會與不同的硬件連結。谷歌上周便公布在不久未來可以用眨眼的形式通過Google Glass確定作電子支付。更多像這樣好比科幻情節的服務，在不久未來應在你我生活之間繼續出現。

China prohíbe el uso de la divisa digital, que se desploma tras el veto de Pekín. El fundador de Virgin o el presidente de Paypal defienden este sistema mientras Apple restringe su utilización.

Los más de mil millones de personas haciendo clic mientras el crédito de su tarjeta mengua a cada golpe de ratón se ha convertido en un magno objeto de deseo para las empresas de toda la geografía mundial, que ven en el ciberespacio chino el Dorado del siglo XXI. Solo hace falta fijarse en la salud de hierro de la que presumen gigantes de ojos rasgados dedicados al comercio 'online' como Alí Baba, que amenaza con ser la próxima gran salida a Bolsa que revolucione Wall Street en 2014.
El pasado 11 de noviembre, por ejemplo, el fanatismo consumista del gigante asiático se tradujo en 1.300 millones de euros en apenas una mañana, una plusmarca inédita en los registros existentes. Viendo estos guarismos no es de extrañar que el Bitcoin, esa divisa digital que ha causado más de una cefalea en la sede del Banco Central Europeo y el cuartel general de la Reserva Federal estadounidense, se despeñase cuando el Gobierno de Pekín decidió prohibir su uso en el país. Un draconiano veto -que también afecta a otros sistemas similares- que se tradujo en una caída del 65% después de que una decena de plataformas que ejercen como 'casas de cambio' dejasen de aceptar yuanes para hacerse con la moneda P2P. De la cumbre de más de 900 euros de cotización que alcanzó en noviembre se quedó en poco más de 300, aguantando a duras penas esa barrera.
La crisis de Grecia, el rescate bancario a España o el flotador lanzado a Chipre fueron algunos de los hechos que impulsaron su valor, aunque se templase a medida que la situación volvía a la calma. Idas y venidas que han levantado la suspicacia de muchas autoridades que ven en este zoco financiero un agujero para la más exacerbada de las especulaciones y delitos como el blanqueo de capitales.
Nació al margen de los controles tradicionales hace ya casi seis años, en 2008, cuando una o varias personas crearon bajo el seudónimo 'Satoshi Nakamoto' empezaron a crearlas gracias a un buen puñado de algoritmos. Ni el BCE ni la FED ni ninguno de los otros grandes rectores monetarios del mundo la controlan, aunque cada unidad trae consigo información adherida sobre los movimientos que ha protagonizado.
EE UU cerró recientemente el que era hasta hace poco el mayor distribuidor de Bitcoin, Silk Road, bautizado ya por muchos como el 'eBay de la droga'. Alegando su falta de base jurídica, países como Tailandia ya adoptaron en su momento la decisión que ahora ha tomado China y en Europa cada vez son más los gobiernos detractores de este método de pago. Noruega aseguró que no respondía a lo que ellos entendían por «dinero» y anunció una batería de medidas que gravarían este activo como otros tantos. Berlín también prepara un impuesto y otros gobiernos como el de París han mostrado sus recelos a los efectos secundarios de su uso al carecer de un respaldo legal.
En el gremio de internet, las posturas parecen no estar claras. Hace apenas una semana, Apple bloqueó una aplicación británica de mensajería instantánea por aceptar transferencias de este tipo, tal y como recogió la prensa inglesa. Otras aplicaciones también fueron retiradas de la App Store al entender que incumplían la normativa legal de todos y cada uno de los mercados donde está disponible, un elemento imprescindible para la factoría de Cupertino.
Mientras este gigante tecnológico parece mantenerse inflexible con la criptomoneda, otros parecen no haber dudado en abrazarlo. Es el caso de la empresa Virgin, del multimillonario Richard Brandson, que anunció que los pasajes de sus vuelos espaciales se podrían apoquinar de esta forma. El británico se deshizo en elogios hacia una iniciativa «brillantemente concebida» e invitó, al tratarse de un proyecto de naturaleza 'open source', a «auditar el código» a los que tuvieran dudas.
El último en sumarse a este club de defensores ha sido el presidente de Paypal, David Marcus. «Me gusta mucho», reconoció el directivo, quien admitió haber comprado un buen puñado de ellas. Es tanta la confianza que le despierta que asegura que Bitcoin es mucho mejor que el NFC a la hora de realizar pagos. Eso sí, Marcus avisó de que todavía queda mucho por recorrer y señaló que todavía hay mucha confusión en torno a su naturaleza. «Es una reserva de valor. No va a ser una moneda hasta que la volatilidad se ralentice», auguró.


Leer más:  El 'Dragón Khan' de Bitcoin  http://www.finanzas.com/noticias/economia/20131223/dragon-khan-bitcoin-2573083.html#VwZ1nFfn5uKiqHdH
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