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Bitcoin Tracker | Week 16
Oh, there they are! We found those missing bitcoins! Well, at least $116M of them. But since the Feds froze the assets of Mt. Gox as it unravels its legal issues around its bankruptcy, they are merely coins on the ledger. More states issued warnings to consumers to stand clear while industry players beef up their security ranks as the see their business expands. But, villas in Bali are bought using bitcoin and new currencies are in the mix to buy all kinds of things legal and otherwise. All in all, sort of a quiet week.
Hope you enjoy, and if you have any news you’d like to share, please send it our way at contactus@pymnts.com.
On the Plus Side …
Some of those lost bitcoins may have been found, and developers have fixed the bug that created all those problems in the first place. The biggest purchase yet using BTC took place and Coinbase just scooped up Facebook’s head of security.
- March 21, 2014 – $116 million bitcoins, or nearly a quarter of what went missing, were “found” in a Mt. Gox wallet, in which the CEO said he “thought no longer contained any bitcoins.” Hiding in plain sight?
- March 21, 2014 – Bitcoin developers say they have fixed the bug that created the “transaction malleability-related” issues that led to the crash of Mt. Gox at the end of February with an update for the cryptocurrency’s main wallet.
- March 20, 2014 – At the 2014 PYMNTS Awards Dinner, Bitcoin was the Gold Medal Winner of the 2014 PYMNTS.com Most Disruptive Innovation category, edging out Chase Merchant Services – the only closed loop network to launch in more than two decades – who took home the Silver Medal.
- March 20, 2014 – The director of security at Facebook, Ryan McGeehan, has left to take up a security role at Coinbase.
- March 20, 2014 – A villa in Bali was sold in what is the largest purchase ever made with cryptocurrency. One way to avoid paying taxes on BTC profits is to buy stuff with the appreciated value. Could this be a way to stimulate acceptance?
- March 20, 2014 – The price of Bitcoin has been relatively stable, but it experienced a blip this date. An analyst at Wedbush Securities explained that there are going to be these types of movements in this field due to supply and demand and that it is nothing to worry about.
- March 20, 2014 – Bobby Lee, the founder of BTC China, went on Bloomberg TV to quash the rumor that Bitcoin is banned in China; it was just a warning from the government!
- March 19, 2014 – In Hong Kong, people have been placing their bets on Bitcoin in hopes that they can absorb some of the Bitcoin market from China, where the government has regulated the cryptocurrency heavily.
- March 19, 2014 – Fortress Investment Group has bought a stake in hedge fund operator Pantera Bitcoin Partners, which buys and sells virtual currencies.
- March 19, 2014 – Two cryptocurrencies were launched to solve the issue of how to pay drugs, both illegal and legal.
On the Dark Side …
Massachusetts joined in on the warnings, and the SEC began an investigation into a Bitcoin gambling site. There seems to be some deja vu for the Winkelvoss twins as well. Their attempt to launch the first Bitcoin exchange-trade fund is going to be beat.
- March 21, 2014 – Visa’s global head of innovation, Jim McCarthy, told investors this month that, while there are things to be learned about Bitcoin, he doesn’t “see those as the things that are going to tip the apple cart anytime soon.”
- March 20, 2014 – The Winklevosses are about to be beat in the Bitcoin game and, rather than being the first to launch a publically traded Bitcoin EFT, they will be the second after Barry Silber’s SecondMarket.
- March 19, 2014 – Massachusetts regulators urged consumers “to proceed with caution” around Bitcoin.
- March 19, 2014 – The SEC is conducting a formal investigation into an online gambling Bitcoin site SatoshiDice.com. (gotta love the name..)
- March 19, 2014 – Canadian Bitcoins blamed Rodgers for being defrauded from $100,000.
- March 18, 2014 – The Guardian has tracked all the Bitcoin hacks since 2011. As the saying goes, “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
