Living Room of Satoshi, an Australian company which enabled users to pay BPAY enabled bills using Bitcoin, has shut its doors due to concerns regarding the recent Goods and Services Tax ruling from the Australian Tax Office. The company had only recently won "best pitch" at the Future of Payments conference held in Sydney, Australia on the 19th of September. Continue reading
Unofficial IS Site Shut Down, Seeks Bitcoin Donations
Khilafah.is, an unofficial IS website, which was used to publish "an alternative narrative of the events happening in IQ & SY"1 has been shut down. Continue reading
Iraq and Syria. ↩
Coins.ph Launches Bitcoin Wallet For Emerging Markets
Coins.ph, a Bitcoin exchange located in the Philippines, today launched what they describe as a bitcoin wallet that caters to the needs of users in emerging markets. Continue reading
Newsweeklied, Lied
On March 14th, 2014, Newsweek published a story titled “The Face Behind Bitcoin” written by Leah McGrath. In the article Ms. McGrath stated “Standing before me, eyes downcast, appeared to be the father of Bitcoin.” While Newsweek claimed that they had discovered “the face behind Bitcoin.” Dorian Nakamato denied having anything to do with it. Continue reading
Butterfly Labs Seek To Have FTC Complaint Dismissed
James Humphrey1, an attorney representing BFL in the case that the FTC brought forward last month, has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint. He stated that for the state to argue for deceptive representations, the FTC would need to allege facts that established BFL made a representation that was material and likely to mislead customers.
Polsinelli PC. ↩
Regulating Bitcoin and Block Chain Derivatives By Houman B Shadab
Houman B. Shadab, who recently appeared at the CFTC meeting which focused on issues related to clearing Non-Deliverable Forwards (NDFs) and the digital currency bitcoin, has released a paper titled Regulating Bitcoin and Block Chain Derivatives. Continue reading
Surveillance Mogul: Make Bitcoin Like Paypal
Peter Thiel, notable for being the founder of global surveillance firm Palantir and a co-founder of Paypal, today described Bitcoin as "lacking a Payment system" of the sort Paypal had while also criticizing it for introducing a new currency "for speculators." Thiel also insisted commerce happening in Bitcoin was almost entirely illegal. In his conversation with US today Thiel noted he has roughly three quarters of his wealth tied up in illiquid tech stocks.
News And Score Enable Bitcoin Betting
The online gambling venue News and Score have enabled bitcoin bets which will allow customers to bet bitcoin, win bitcoin and do so without dealing with fiat currencies. Continue reading
Melbourne Group Works For Bitcoin ASX Listing
The "Bitcoin Group" of Melbourne Australia aspires to list on the Australian Securities Exchange reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The Group was founded by Sam Lee and to this point funded by Chinese fire safety mogul Allan Gao. The prospectus will be filed October 22nd with the offer opening October 29th. In related news the Australian Senate has on open call for submission related to its inquiry on Bitcoin regulations which closes November 28th. Presently the group focuses on arbitrage, which they admit will face shrinking returns if more market makers compete in this area. Continue reading
Coinbase Retains Government Insider
The New York Times reports that Coinbase has hired former adviser to the US Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee John Collins. Coinbase is a California based business that "hosts" wallets on the behalf of users while also serving as a payment processor and online retail counter for exchanging between Bitcoin and United States dollars in a time insensitive manner. Among users Coinbase is notable for its inquiries into user activities and blocking gambling related transactions without regard for their actual legality in the user's jurisdiction.