With MtGox effectively dead, Bitcoin can now enter the third stage of evolution, explains BitGo CEO Will O'Brien in an extensive essay. More »
Erik Voorhees, a respected Bitcoin entrepreneur who created SatoshiDice and now runs Coinapult, shares his views about MtGox and the future of Bitcoin. More »
Hollywood could learn a lot from Silk Road 2 about heightening stakes and creating suspense in this epic whodunnit thriller where 4000 bitcoins were stolen! More »
In this extensive video, Bitcoin Leah interviews Brock Pierce, Alan Meckler, Sam Cole, and companies including BitGo, GoCoin, Lamassu and more. More »
Cruise Ship Startup Community Blueseed Gets Bitcoin Funding
Blueseed Continues Full Steam Ahead with Bitcoin Funding
Blueseed is a live/work/play startup community for 1000 entrepreneurs, on a cruise ship to be stationed 30 minutes by ferry from the coast of Silicon Valley.
The location is in international waters, outside U.S. jurisdiction, and allows entrepreneurs from anywhere in the world to start or scale their companies without needing U.S. work visas. Instead, easier-to-obtain B1/B2 business/travel visas will be used to arrive on Blueseed and to visit the mainland in order to connect with the Silicon Valley ecosystem.
Blueseed creates a new class of real-estate – technology-enhanced and ocean-based – and differentiates from existing business accelerators by creating an entire ecosystem (mentors, talent pool, investors, service providers etc.), and enabling a very close-knit community, modelled after university campuses. So far, with no dollars spent on marketing, over 1300 entrepreneurs from 400 startups in 66 countries have expressed interest.
Blueseed Announces Funding from Bit Angels
In light of last week’s major developments within the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Blueseed is announcing reaching a new milestone towards launching its startup ship for entrepreneurs – receiving the first investment from the first group of angel investors focused on the digital currency Bitcoin.
Last week, the House Republican Conference strongly opposed the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill passed by the Senate, which among its 1198 pages included a section for granting an “INVEST” visa to international startup entrepreneurs. This development is unfortunately detrimental to the chances of a startup visa being enacted. Blueseed represents a viable, entrepreneurial alternative to this political problem.
Last week as well, the SEC announced that it will be lifting the ban on general solicitation, an 80-year old measure that has been preventing startups from publicly disclosing their ongoing fundraising campaigns. Blueseed will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to publicly announce its next fundraising round once the new provision becomes effective, in order to raise the amounts needed to launch the community.
Blueseed is also proud to announce receiving the first investment from Bit Angels, the first Bitcoin angel investors group. The group’s goal is fostering the growth of startups that promote Bitcoin, the decentralized digital currency. The Bit Angels regard Blueseed as an upcoming Bitcoin-friendly jurisdiction, with a streamlined legal and regulatory system, accelerating the growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem. In another first, Blueseed has received one investor’s contribution directly in Bitcoins. Leading the Bitcoin round was Jered Kenna, co-founder of Tradehill, the largest Bitcoin exchange in the U.S.
Learn more at Blueseed.
Argentina Bitcoin Adoption Jumps in Recent Months – Report
Argentina Leads Top 50 Countries in Increase of Bitcoin Adoption
According to a report by The Genesis Block, adoption of Bitcoin in Argentina has jumped in recent months.
The chart below shows the change in rate of Bitcoin downloaded (month to date in July), highlighting that Argentina is the only country that increased in Bitcoin adoption month-over-month.
The Genesis Block shares this explanation for the change in Argentina.
In a story familiar to any bitcoin enthusiast, the digital currency is being sought after for two key reasons: debasement of national fiat and increasing capital controls. Inflation has been a significant problem for Argentina for years, but has come to the forefront after a series of public events highlighted just how bad the problem had become.
In March, economists from an opposition party to the reigning President Cristina Kirchner estimated inflation to be roughly 24%, more than double the government estimate of of just over 10%. Those economists were given fines of 500,000 pesos each, equivalent to nearly $100,000. The fines were overturned in May by the countries courts, sending an embarrassing blow to President Kirchner.
Argentinan economists aren’t the only ones who don’t believe the government’s inflation data. In February, the International Monetary Fund censured the Argentine government for misreporting inflation statistics.
Read the full analysis at The Genesis Block.
CC image by Pablo Manriquez.
Bitcoin Prediction Market Predictious: Bet on Gender of the Royal Baby
Irish startup Pixode has launched a Bitcoin prediction marketplace called Predictious. You can bet on anything: the next winner of the Tour de France, the top grossing movie this summer, or the sex of the Royal baby.
There have been prediction marketplaces before. Predictify was a US-based startup that let people wager with virtual currency (no cash involved) and went out of business in 2009. Intrade is another Ireland-based company that let users bet on any outcome, famously including the U.S. presidential election, with real money and suddenly halted operations.
What makes Predictious different is that Bitcoin is the only supported currency for wagers. This means that wagers are both virtual and real money, and anyone in the world can participate if they have Bitcoins in their wallet.
This seems to be the first time real-world events wagering has been coupled with Bitcoin. There are numerous sites focused on the speculation of the price of Bitcoin, but none let users wager Bitcoin on actual events.
Betting on the gender of the Royal baby is just one example of the type of major event that could continue to propel Bitcoin into the spotlight through a Bitcoin prediction marketplace. In the meanwhile, whoever gets the sex correct will win 10 BTC, or just under $1000 USD.
Learn more at Predictious.com.
Top Bitcoin News Last Week: DEA Seizure, Africa, Bitcoin Foundation
Bitcoin News
A roundup of the top Bitcoin news from July 5 to July 11.
Friday, July 5
Sunday, July 8
Tuesday, July 9
Wednesday, July 10
Thursday, July 11
Kipochi Launches Africa’s First Bitcoin Wallet in Kenya
Kipochi’s Bitcoin Wallet to Enhance Mobile Payments in Kenya
In Swahili, Kipochi means wallet or purse, an appropriate name for this new Bitcoin payment service launching in Kenya.
Kipochi is a Bitcoin wallet where your mobile number is your account number. Bitcoins can be sent and received across the borders with very low transaction fees, about $0.04 according to Kipochi’s website.
“We’ve decided to spear head this as our goal is to make Bitcoin useful for regular people all over the world and not just computer programmers,” Kipochi said.
In Kenya, M-Pesa is a very popular mobile payment service for Kenyans to send money to each other, and Kipochi seems to fit in to that paradigm nicely letting Kenyans send and receive Bitcoin to people across the world.
Even though 1 BTC is $85 today, a single Bitcoin can be broken into 1 million parts, called Satoshis, or 1000 parts, called a Millibit. Kipochi supports transactions of Millibits.
Learn more at Kipochi.com.
