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Legal Firm Riddell Williams Hires Bitcoin Experts to Lead Payments Practice
Bitcoin Legal Experts Join Seattle Firm
Two of the leading legal professionals in the Bitcoin industry have joined Seattle-based Riddell Williams to co-chair the Payments practice area and provide expert services to Bitcoin companies. Pictured below are Daniel Friedberg and Ryan Straus, who each have contributed to the emerging Bitcoin business ecosystem.
Friedberg has spoken at industry conferences including Bitcoin London and Bitcoin 2013, and has been quoted in major publications such as Fox Business, Tech Cocktail, and Business Insider. Friedberg has also published his work on the Bitcoin Foundation blog.
Strauss spoke at Bitcoin 2013, and published his writing in American Banker. He was also quoted in The Hill’s regulation blog.
Collectively, they represent some of the major players in the Bitcoin space for Riddell Williams, including exchanges, service companies, wallets, miners, investors, and merchants.
“We provide advice and help our clients implement compliance programs. We also directly interface with both Federal and state regulators to clarify issues,” said Friedberg in an interview with On Bitcoin. “Regulation of financial services business is inevitable and expected. We generally view the regulatory developments as positive steps towards acceptance. It is far better that we are moving towards a regime of regulation than prohibition,” he added.
Friedberg and Straus joined Riddell Williams and co-chair the Payments practice. “Riddell Williams understand the importance of this emerging payment system,” Straus explained. “Bitcoin is a natural fit for our payments group. Clients in emerging markets such as Bitcoin require the highest level of legal knowledge and service in order to make the right decisions.”
Riddell Williams is a Seattle law firm with over 60 lawyers that was founded in 1906 that has a specialty in financial services. Learn more at www.riddellwilliams.com.
Bitcoin ATM RoboCoin Kiosk Goes on Sale for $20,000
Buy and sell Bitcoin with RoboCoin ATM
Calling itself Bitcoin’s First Real ATM, the RoboCoin Kiosk is now accepting pre-orders.
RoboCoin allows buying and selling Bitcoins from a freestanding kiosk that integrates software, bank grade hardware and security.
RoboCoin’s technology makes it a contender in the emerging market for Bitcoin machines. RoboCoin CEO Jordan Kelley was quick to criticize his competition in a blog post, “Seriously, how Bush League is an ‘ATM’ if it can’t do the equivalent of deposits and withdrawals or be left unattended?” Exchange integration with Mt. Gox or Bitstamp delivers dynamic Bitcoin inventory so that trades are placed in real time.
It’s competition includes Lamassu Bitcoin ATM, a table-top machine that turns cash into Bitcoins in seconds, but not sell Bitcoin for cash.
Below is a video showing the features of the RoboCoin ATM Kiosk.
RoboCoin was demonstated at the Bitcoin 2013 Conference in San Jose, and is now ready for production pre-order. A single kiosk costs $20,000, though there is a $18,500 pre-order promotion through September. Business owners will earn a percentage of transactions and attract new and existing Bitcoin users.
RoboCoin to date has received inquiries from over 20 regions including: Canada, Australia, Prague, Kenya, Ireland, the Philippines and Thailand.
And, of course, RoboCoin Kiosks can be purchased with Bitcoin or USD.
FinCEN Gives Early Guidance on Bitcoin Regulation
Regulation on Bitcoin Heats Up in Washington Meeting
On Monday, the Bitcoin Foundation met with FinCEN, the crime enforcement division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, as well as regulators and law enforcement officials.
Patrick Murck, general counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation, prepared a presentation on Bitcoin for agencies including the FBI, IRS, Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Secret Service.
According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, FinCEN made a statement after the meeting giving preliminary guidance on the matter.
“Fincen’s recent guidance concerning virtual currencies made clear that virtual currency administrators and exchangers that provide services within the U.S. must register with Fincen as money-services businesses and that they share similar regulatory responsibilities with other financial institutions,” said Jennifer Shasky-Calvery, director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in a statement after the meeting.
This activity comes on the heels of other regulatory interest in Bitcoin, including Germany’s ruling that Bitcoin is private money, Thailand’s guidance that Bitcoin is illegal, New York’s Department of Financial Services sending subpoenas to 22 Bitcoin companies, and the U.S. Senate launching its own inquiry.
Top Bitcoin News Last Week: CoinChat, Germany, CoinTap, more
Bitcoin News
A roundup of the top Bitcoin news from August 19 to August 25:
Tuesday, August 20
Wednesday, August 21
Thursday, August 22
Canadian Startup CoinTap Sells Bitcoin Gift Cards to Help Adoption
CoinTap Looks to Make Buying Bitcoins Easy
Buying Bitcoins is complicated, and there are a number of companies are looking to change that. The latest entrant on this scene is Canadian Startup CoinTap.
CoinTap is the creation of Bitcoin Ventures, Inc., a local virtual currency software development company that offers smart solutions for Bitcoin e-commerce.
The product is a gift card which streamlines an otherwise tricky and time-consuming process of trading your money on a market for Bitcoins, says the company’s representative and Bitcoin consultant Ashley Fulks.
“Buying Bitcoins are now as uncomplicated as buying a loaf of bread,” says Fulks. “Simply go to the store and buy a CoinTap card. Then go online, redeem your card on our website and, presto, you’ve got Bitcoins.”
A $50 gift card is redeemable for 50 dollars in credit, which can then be used to purchase Bitcoins at a competitive rate through the company’s website. (As of writing, the current value of 1 Bitcoin is $121 US on Mt.Gox.com exchange or $97 CDN on CaVirtex.ca.)
“The Bitcoin is the best-performing currency in the world,” says Fulks. “Whereas governments and banks set the values of fiat currencies based on how they want their economies to perform, the Bitcoin is decentralized and runs on a peer-to-peer network, so its value can’t be regulated by a small group of people.”
“With Bitcoins, there’s no inflation. It’s all math. There will only ever be 21,000,000 in circulation,” explains Fulks. “Since the Bitcoins value is determined purely by the market, it shows a different picture of what other currencies are worth.”
Currently, governments and financial institutions worldwide have varying definitions of what Bitcoins are.
While the Government of Canada views Bitcoins as a tradable commodity, but not a currency, Germany recently ruled that the Bitcoin is “private money” and therefore taxable, just like regular money.
So if Bitcoins are so cutting edge, what can you do with them?
“They can be saved as an investment; traded for other valuable currencies such as Euros, Rubles, US dollars, Yen, Litecoins, Feathercoins – which are just two of the many new virtual currencies cropping up,” says Fulks. “You can also use Bitcoins to purchase any type of good or service from any vendor willing to accept Bitcoins.”
There’s already a huge community online for shopping with Bitcoin, including bitcoinstore.com – an Amazon-style store that only deals in Bitcoin. Several smart-phone apps, like blockchain.info, offer portable wallets and easy point-of-sale systems for vendors to make transactions easy, Fulks explains.
Fulks says some early-adopters are now living exclusively off of Bitcoins.
“They buy their groceries and even pay their rent with the help of online companies like billpayforcoins.com, who will pay your bills in fiat currency in exchange for Bitcoins,” says Fulks.
Bitcoin Ventures Inc. is actively securing global partnerships, “to help bring Bitcoins to the world,” says Fulks.
“The Bitcoin community is very supportive of emerging technologies and has contacted us with open arms. I know a lot of people want to make it easy to get Bitcoins and CoinTap is here to help.”
About Bitcoin Ventures
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Bitcoin Ventures Inc. was founded in 2013 by a forward-thinking group of business-savvy computer-techs.
For more information visit www.cointap.ca
