Bitcoin Tracker: Week 37

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Bitcoin Tracker | Week 37

What goes down must come up. After a crash earlier in the week, Bitcoin eeked past the $500 to end the week, closing at $522.92 according to PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price index.

The Bitcoin Sentiment Index launched last week, which you can think of as the mood ring for Bitcoin. It measures consumer sentiment around the Bitcoin currency. We’ll track that too, and correlate that to our Volatility Index to see if we can detect any patterns. This week, the mood was down in the mid to high eighties, twenty points lower than the average for April through July. There was one great exception, which was a deep drop in mid July to 87. The index is powered by Qriously data, which leverages mobile ad infrastructure to deliver questions to millions of users in the UK and US. Currently, Qriously asks randomly selected users “the importance of bitcoin in 12 months will: (Increase/Decrease/Stay the Same)”. At least for the period, the bloom was a bit off the Bitcoin rose.

One thing’s for sure, the news from the taxing authorities in the US and Australia didn’t cause anyone any great anxiety.  The days of sneaking under the tax man’s radar are over in both countries. The Australian Taxation Office decided that cryptocurrencies will be taxed as non-cash barter transactions and in the U.S. there is a new software that helps bitcoin users navigate the complex tax requirements (hint, hint, pay up).
As always, if you have any news you’d like to share, please send it our way at contactus@pymnts.com.

On the Plus Side …

Rumor has it that Braintree is the latest gateway in discussions with Coinbase to enable its merchants to accept Bitcoins. There’s a Bitcoin ATM now in the West Village for all of the NY hipsters to cash out Bitcoins for cash and software to help the Bitcoin ecosystem flourish was funded by Khosla Ventures.

• August 21, 2014 – The first bitcoin ATM opened in Manhattan, in the West Village, however only allows users to exchange cyber currency for cash.
• August 21, 2014 – The CzechCrownCoin started trading on Tuesday in the Czech Republic, the first test run involved 100,000 coins.
• August 20, 2014 – A virtual currency start-up, Chain, which makes it easier for developers to build bitcoin applications, closed a $9.5 million investment led by Khosla Ventures. The start-up now has $13.7 million in funding.
• August 20, 2014 – LibraTax launched to make bitcoin users IRS compliant.
• August 20, 2014 – US Bitcoin technology provider, Blink Trade, is preparing to launch another exchange, this time to serve West African clients.
• August 19, 2014 – Reportedly Braintree is in talks with Coinbase to integrate bitcoin into its payments platform.
• August 19, 2014 – The Bitcoin Sentiment Index was launched, which measures whether individuals feel that bitcoin’s prospects are increasing or decreasing at any given moment.
• August 19, 2014 – Overstock is going to let international customers to pay with bitcoin.
• August 18, 2014 – The first bitcoin exchange in Venezuela opened, SurBitcoin.
• August 15, 2014 – A German startup, ASICristing GmbH is looking for funding to produce a new, high-performance microchip that they say will make bitcoin mining much less energy intensive and then cheaper.

On the Dark Side …

Well, there goes the option for Australia to become a big bitcoin loving island! The Bitcoin market crashed last week and a U.S. District Judge denied a request from Robert Faiella who is accused of operating the Silk Road online marketplace to toss out his charges.

• August 20, 2014 – The Australian Taxation Office decided that they will not treat bitcoin transactions as money and digital currency payments will be taxed as non-cash barter transactions. Now businesses buying digital coins will have to pay GST on the bitcois and on the services offered.
• August 20, 2014 – This week the bitcoin market value experienced a “flash crash” when market price fell almost 12 percent on Monday.
• August 19, 2014 – U.S District Judge Jed Rakoff denied a request to throw out a count against Robert Faiella, who faces trial next month on charges of running an illegal underground bitcoin exchange. The judge said that bitcoins legally qualify as “money”.