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BitPay, a leading Bitcoin payment processor, has officially opened its European Headquarters in Amsterdam. This office will handle sales, implementation and merchant support for BitPay’s 7,000 merchants in Europe, with the goal of acquiring and serving 30,000 merchants in Europe by the end of 2014.

Moe Levin has joined BitPay as the company’s European Director of Business Development. Moe speaks five languages and has several years of Bitcoin experience, most recently as a conference organizer in Amsterdam and Miami.

“Being Bitcoin ready is about more than accepting bitcoin, it’s about being ready for the future,” says Levin.

Pieter Poorthuis joins BitPay as a Senior Sales Engineer and is responsible for sales and customer implementations in the Eurozone.  Pieter previously managed implementations for ING’s mobile payments products.

Marcel Roelants has also joined BitPay’s Board of Advisors. Marcel is a former General Manager of MasterCard in the Netherlands, and was previously Managing Director of General Electric in Belgium where he managed 170 people.

“As the world of payments is changing rapidly, BitPay is at the forefront offering technology and support to merchants,” says Roelants.  “Establishing its headquarters in Amsterdam is a great way to be closer to its European customers.”

The addition of two employees in Amsterdam brings BitPay’s worldwide headcount to 33.  BitPay is sponsoring the Dutch Bitcoin Meetup today, is exhibiting at the NextWeb conference on April 24th and 25th, and is a sponsor of the Bitcoin Foundation’s Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam.

In addition to growing globally, BitPay has updated its look.  BitPay is pleased to unveil a new brand identity, symbolized by the introduction of a new logo and website that signifies our growth and celebrates our culture of innovation.

“The launch of our new brand and logo aligns with our open-source culture,” said BitPay’s Co-Founder and CEO, Tony Gallippi. “It’s also an exciting time in bitcoin space and with the opening of our new office in Amsterdam, we are looking to hire the world’s best developers to build the world’s best payment system.”

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Digital currency service provider NoveltyLab has been selected as one of the winners that will join the inaugural Plug and Play Bitcoin accelerator program.  Plug and Play Tech Center, a leading startup investor, launched a program to assist up-and-coming Bitcoin startups.  Bitcoin is a new and disruptive technology that will revolutionize payments and how we exchange value.

Plug and Play Tech Center is a leading startup investor and accelerator based in Silicon Valley.  It has helped the startup community raise over $1.6B in venture funding, and has invested in 200 plus companies including such well known companies as PayPal, Dropbox, Lending Club and Zoosk.  Over 75 companies from 25 countries have applied for the inaugural Bitcoin accelerator program.  Four selected companies, including NoveltyLab, will each receive $25K investment and given access to a group of carefully selected mentors.  Among other mentors, the four startups will have access to such well known Bitcoin enthusiast and expert as Andreas Antonopoulos and advice from well-known legal firm specializing in digital currencies.

NoveltyLab was founded by two university friends and software engineering experts Andrey Zamovskiy and Nickolay Babenko.  In 2012, they released their first product offering merchant services for Bitcoin payments.  A year later the company launched a fixed rate digital currencies exchange that enabled clients to purchase bitcoins with credit cards.  Last year, the company was joined by several payment industry professionals, including a seasoned entrepreneur Taras Kuzin.  Kuzin was a director at Western Union and First Data and responsible for development of innovative financial services.  NoveltyLab’s recently launched next generation HolyTransaction platform is multicurrency digital wallet that offers seamless exchange among top crypto-currencies and is integrated with social networks.

Zamovskiy says: “We are excited about the partnership with such a well-known company in the startup community and both tangible and intangible resources this partnership will brings to our company!”  The company is developing several exciting products and services for less financially sophisticated consumers, who wish to instantly buy and sell all major digital currencies.  It is in the process of finalizing a deal with a payments company, which will enable NoveltyLab to be operational in all 50 states.

Learn more at http://noveltylab.com/

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After thousands gathered at Inside Bitcoins in Berlin, Germany on February 12-13, this innovative Bitcoin event is returning to New York City on April 7-8 at the Javits Convention Center.

Jeremy Allaire, Founder & CEO of Circle, will deliver the opening keynote on April 7 at Inside Bitcoins Conference & Expo in New York City at the Javits Convention Center. Allaire is joined by Nicolas Cary, CEO of Blockchain.info, who will deliver the afternoon keynote on April 7, and Barry Silbert, Founder & CEO of SecondMarket and creator of the Bitcoin Investment Trust, who will speak on the panel “Wall Street’s View of Fair Value for Bitcoin” the morning of April 8.

Inside Bitcoins is excited to announce the NEW addition of the Bitcoin Basics Booth, open to every conference attendee, the experts at the booth will help answer all questions about the virtual currency, from getting set up with your first wallet, to making payments, and more.

A second track of conference sessions have been added to the event and include: A Startup Perspective: Building a Trading Platform from Scratch by Luke Jones, Co-Founder of Coinarch, Bitcoin Merchant On-Ramp by Steve Beauregard, Founder & CEO of GoCoin.com, Bitcoin in the Cloud by Benjamin Gorlick, COO of CloudHashing, Bitcoin Comes To Main Street by Tyler Roye, Co-Founder & CEO of eGifter, Beyond Bitcoin: BitShares Delves Into Digital Shares by Daniel Larimer, Founder & CEO of BitShares.org, and Data Center Planning Calculator for Megawatt Mining by Eric P. Doricko a Data Center Crypto-Consultant.

We’re excited to have partnered with Inside Bitcoins to offer 10% OFF full conference passes with code ONBC. Also, when you register now, you’ll save an extra $300 on on-site pricing.

Mediabistro will soon announce firm dates for additional events taking place in 2014 in Hong Kong, China; London, England; and Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Dorian Nakamoto, the California man who was identified by Newsweek as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, has retained counsel and issued a public statement. In the statement, he categorically denies being involved in Bitcoin and says he has experienced financial hardship over the last 10 years.

The aging media publication Newsweek went “all in” on the story that Satoshi Nakamoto was found, bringing their physical magazine publication back from the dead for an exclusive. Journalist Leah McGrath Goodman spent two months searching for Satoshi and found a Japanese man in California named … Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto.

There was an uproar in response to Goodman’s article because the reporter shared personal details about Dorian Nakamoto, including photos of his residence and car, and names of his family members. Further, many asserted the evidence used in the article was circumstantial.

Here is Dorian’s full statement:

My name is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto. I am the subject of the Newsweek story on Bitcoin. I am writing this statement to clear my name.

I did not create, invent or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report.

The first time I heard the term “bitcoin” was from my son in mid-February 2014. After being contacted by a reporter, my son called me and used the word, which I had never before heard. Shortly thereafter, the reporter confronted me at my home. I called the police. I never consented to speak with the reporter. In an ensuing discussion with a reporter from the Associated Press, I called the technology “bitcom.” I was still unfamiliar with the term.

My background is in engineering. I also have the ability to program. My most recent job was as an electrical engineer troubleshooting air traffic control equipment for the FAA. I have no knowledge of nor have I ever worked on cryptography, peer to peer systems, or alternative currencies.

I have not been able to find steady work as an engineer or programmer for ten years. I have worked as a laborer, polltaker, and substitute teacher. I discontinued my internet service in 2013 due to severe financial distress. I am trying to recover from prostate surgery in October 2012 and a stroke I suffered in October of 2013. My prospects for gainful employment has been harmed because of Newsweek’s article.

Newsweek’s false report has been the source of a great deal of confusion and stress for myself, my 93-year old mother, my siblings, and their families. I offer my sincerest thanks to those people in the United States and around the world who have offered me their support. I have retained legal counsel. This will be our last public statement on this matter. I ask that you now respect our privacy.

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto
Temple City, California
March 17, 2014

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Adam Kornfield thinks everyone should own Bitcoin.

Kornfield is the co-creator of Bitnote, a freely available Bit-currency price quoting system that converts prices listed as 0.0027760 BTC to a more consumer-friendly form, in this case 2.84 Bitnotes.

In an opinion piece posted on Medium, Kornfield made a case on why Bitcoin is a necessary asset class, even just 5% of one’s portfolio. He argues:

There are speculations that Bitcoin could someday rival a currency like the dollar or euro. If the value of all dollars is more than 1,000 times the value of each Bitcoin, there is plenty of room for Bitcoin to increase in value—and thus provide a significant return on investment.

Upside — Bitcoin rivals a major world currency and is worth 1,000x the current value.

Downside — Bitcoin goes to zero.

Reasonable scenario — With a current price of around $650 per coin, and a total currency value of $8b, the value of Bitcoin could easily increase by 10x and still be extremely small compared to the value of the dollar or euro. You want to be an owner if this happens.

Kornfield suggests that buying into Bitcoin today is akin to the hypothetical opportunity to buy into the Internet in 1996. In hindsight, that would have been a great idea, right?

Well, of course, everyone should make their own investment decisions. Do you agree with Adam Kornfield?

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