PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price and Volatility index.
This week’s bitcoin trivia: How much value has bitcoin lost over the last 12 months? Answer. 51 percent. This time last year, the price of bitcoin was 629.18. Today it is 310.15.
The bitcoin world awaited word from New York State’s top financial regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, who outlined revisions to the state’s much anticipated “BitLicense” proposal. That finally happened yesterday, December 18th and you can read all about the meeting and proposal here. While his proposal was just that – a proposal – the announcement was regarded by many as a bellwether for what other states and even the Feds might decide to do. The good news for the startup world was that his proposal BitLicenses would provide start-ups with an “on-ramp” as bitcoin operations are built. Lawsky also said, “virtual currencies such as bitcoin are a very, very long way from being a credible challenger to banks of the existing payments system”. Notice the two “very’s.”
And on that news, perhaps, the price of bitcoin flirted with $300 again, dropping from 345.48 to 310.51 according to the PYMNTS.com Bitcoin Price index.
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 …
Right in time for the holidays, more gift card and loyalty platforms opened up to bitcoin acceptance, either for payment or for cashing out. While it may often seem that it is hard to use bitcoin to pay for real items or an actual use, now in Canada, credit cards may be paid off with bitcoin. And, you can pay for your Time magazine subscription with bitcoin.
- December 18, 2104 – eGifter, a platform that accepts bitcoin for payment, has added eBay giftcards to their portfolio.
- December 18, 2014 – K. based BTXDeals.com launched an e-tail website where sellers offer goods and services to buy with bitcoin.
- December 18, 2014 – A bitcoin FinTech accelerator, Latitude, has plans to open in the Caymen Islands.
- December 18, 2014 – Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer integrated with a rewards-point service so consumers may receive their payouts in bitcoin. The rewards company, PointTown, currently has 1.88 million registered users.
- December 17, 2014 – Time Inc. announced a partnership with Coinbase bitcoin wallet to make Time the first major magazine publisher to accept bitcoin.
- December 17, 2014 – Startup YesToBitCoins.com now enables Canadian credit cards to be paid in bitcoins.
- December 17, 2014 – PeerNova has raised $8.6 million in funding as it attempts to adjust their enterprise bitcoin mining infrastructure to enterprise blockchain software solutions.
- December 15, 2014 – Backslash now enables Social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) to send bitcoins to other people.
- December 15, 2014 – Butterfly Labs, the bitcoin mining equipment company that was shut down due to a federal complaint, will be reopening after a judge’s order.
- December 12, 2014 – The ‘Good Samaritan’ hacker who returned 267 BTC that he took from compromised blockchain wallets explained how he was able to collect the funds.
On the Dark Side …
The hackers have been fooled again! Another group of hackers found that just because they think they may have leverage, not everyone is willing to pay. The CEO of American Express, Ken Chenault, joined the choir of other executives who don’t think that bitcoin will play a dominant role in payments anytime soon, but the bitcoin protocol could impact the business.
- December 18, 2014 – Ukraine’s chapter of the Bitcoin Foundation said that while the central bank of Ukraine did give a warning, it doesn’t mean they totally banned bitcoin. The central bank did emphasize that bitcoin is a “high risk factor”.
- December 17, 2014 – A strain of bitcoin ransom ware, TorrentLocker, has targeted about 40,000 users across the globe, but the joke is on TorrentLocker as only 1.44% of those who were hacked plan to pay.
- December 17, 2014 – The only Romanian bitcoin exchange, BTCX has asked users to withdraw funds by Friday the 19th of December. BTCXchange.ro told visitors that they do not have access to their server.
- December 15, 2014 – American Express CEO, Kenneth Chenault isn’t convinced that bitcoin will be playing a dominant role in payments anytime soon. However, he said the protocol that could be important.
- December 15, 2014 – The value of Bitcoin has plunged over 54 percent since the beginning of 2014.
