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 »
Top Bitcoin News Last Week: Market Cap, VCs, Skype Virus, Pizza
Bitcoin News
A roundup of the top Bitcoin news from April 1 to April 7:
Tuesday, April 2
- Can Bitcoin Be Trusted as the Global Economy’s Safe Haven?
- Video: Max Keiser Predicts Bitcoin Market Growth to $1 Million Per BTC
Wednesday, April 3
Thursday, April 4
- Is Bitcoin Hype or Reality? Real, And Also Controversial
- Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox DDoS Attack: It’s Been an Epic Few Days
- Bitcoin Hits the Front Page of the Financial Times
Friday, April 5
Saturday, April 6
Sunday, April 7
Bitcoin Market Cap Shoots Past $2 Billion in Historic Milestone
Bitcoin Market Cap Exceeds $2 Billion
Bitcoin market cap has been on a tear lately and there seems to be no end in sight as the alternative currency passed $2 billion in market value over night.
Here are some of the top Tweets about this new milestone.
Market cap for BTC shoots past $2 bn. A $10 bn. market cap will INCREASE demand for BTC as institutions pour into this asset class.
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) April 8, 2013
Days it took for Bitcoin to reach first billion dollars of total dollar valuation (TDV): 1,545.Days to reach 2nd billion TDV: 11 #Bitcoin
— Bitcoin Trader (@bitcointrader) April 8, 2013
#Bitcoin has hit $2 Billion, up from $1B a week ago. It has gotten ridiculous. This demonstrates no faith in banking + finance.
— Navraj Ghataura (@navraj) April 8, 2013
Bitcoin Media: New York Times Profiles Bitcoins
Bitcoin Media Goes Mainstream
In a sign of growth in mainstream awareness of Bitcoin, the New York Times published a feature on the revolutionary alternative currency. In the article, topics including Bitcoin mining, trading, transactions, and economies are covered.
On the Bitcoin economy:
The price increase becomes a question of supply and demand. Unlike other currencies that can adjust the money supply depending on economic conditions, bitcoins have a supply that is fixed. The amount of new coins that can be minted was plotted at the outset with a finite number of coins at the end, roughly 21 million in the next century. Today, the rate is 25 new coins every 10 minutes; for the first four years, it was twice as many, 50 every 10 minutes.
On Bitcoin transactions:
So far, excluding investors and day traders, the main use of the currency appears to be illicit activity. There are the online gambling sites that use bitcoins. And the anonymous online marketplace Silk Road, which accepts only bitcoins, is “overwhelmingly used as a market for controlled substances and narcotics,” according to a paper on Silk Road written by Mr. Christin of Carnegie Mellon.
He used clues on the site, including buyer feedback reports, to calculate how much and what kind of business was being transacted. His conclusion, as of July 2012, was that $1.2 million in business was carried out each month, much of it for buying small amounts of narcotics that were delivered by mail. “We did see it was growing,” he said of the total value of the trades. “It pretty much doubled in the six months I followed it.”
Read the full article at the New York Times.
New York Times building photo by wallyg used under Creative Commons license.
Bitcoin Bubble: What Financial Experts Think
Bitcoin Bubble: Is It Irrational?
Is there a Bitcoin bubble? The Economic Times explored opinions of several financial experts.
First, there is Yannick Naud, portfolio manager at London-based Glendevon King Asset Management firm. He has seen an increase in client interest about Bitcoins. His view is that Bitcoin’s accelerated climb to over $1 billion in value is unsustainable.
“It’s completely irrational. As an investor you can’t put any underlying value on the Bitcoin itself. The bubble will burst when there will be less people willing to enter (the Bitcoin market) than people willing to leave it. It’s hard to pinpoint, but it probably won’t last another month at this price.”
Will the Bubble Pop or Governments Intervene First?
Alistair Cotton, a senior analyst with Currencies Direct compares Bitcoin to Napster. Even though Napster was shut down for enabling illegal file-sharing, Pandora’s box had been opened and there was no going back. But investors in Napster did not reap the rewards that others did from the transformation of the music, movie, and television industries.
“If [Bitcoin] gets very popular, I can see the government clamping down. I think it would lead to a massive drop off in the number of users. If you look back in history in terms of financial bubbles, they always end. It’s going to be a very rough ride for guys that invest in Bitcoin for speculative purposes.”
More interviews and analysis via The Economic Times.
Bubble photo by Visual Artist Frank Bonilla used under Creative Commons license.
Here Comes the Bitcoin Venture Capital
Bitcoin Venture Capital Heats Up
Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Jeremy Liew published his perspective on the incredible opportunity to invest in companies that are building new ideas for the Bitcoin ecosystem. It looks like the Bitcoin venture capital is heating up.
There are three key markets in Bitcoin:
Wallet. Holding your Bitcoins for you, serving some of the checking account functions of a bank.
Exchange. Converting from USD to Bitcoins and back.
Payments. Helping merchants accept Bitcoins for their transactions.
As a rule of thumb, VCs like to see billion-dollar markets to get excited. How can each of these markets get to be a billion dollars in size?
To build multi-billion dollar opportunities, the Bitcoin economy needs to grow 100X from where it is today, Liew goes on to say. But to put that in perspective, it grew more than 10X in the last year.
These opportunities are not without risk. Liew acknowledges that in its short existence, Bitcoin has been the target of theft and over 10% of the Bitcoins in circulation have been stolen. This and other risks will make it hard to be build sustainable businesses, but not impossible.
Via TechCrunch.
