Category Archives: Bitcoin

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Bitcoin accepted by NBA Team

Exciting announcement today: Beginning March 1st, the NBA team Sacramento Kings aims to stay on the cutting edge by accepting Bitcoin.kings-accept-bitcoin-nba

“When I sold the NBA on keeping the team in Sacramento, my pitch included using the sports franchise as a social network to push the technology envelope,” Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive told ESPN.com. “This is an example of that.”

Sacramento Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive hopes accepting Bitcoin virtual [digital] currency is the next step in allowing fans to keep their wallets at home.
Ranadive said that the acceptance of Bitcoin is one step closer to allowing fans to keep their wallets at home, thanks to what will eventually be a ticketless and cashless environment at the arena.  Continue reading →

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Finally, a 3D printing company takes bitcoin

form1-bitcoin-1

 

3D printer maker Formlabs will begin accepting the digital currency Bitcoin on its online store, the company announced at the CES 2014 on Tuesday.

“This is as much from the requests of our customers, who are a digitally-savvy crew, as it is from our own interest in all-things awesome.” says Formlabs. The company hopes to reach a wider audience of 3D printing enthusiasts by accepting Bitcoin.

Check out the full article here.

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Will you accept Bitcoin soon? #mentionbitcoin

walmart-bitcoin-tweet

This is a question I started asking companies about a year ago, in early 2013.

Back then, I knew there was little chance people would even take a little time to learn about bitcoin, let alone implement it in their store. Some business owners were even outright hostile of the idea.

Now with Overstock’s recent adoption of bitcoin, it’s a whole different story.  Continue reading →

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Will Overstock force IRS to make up mind on Bitcoin?

Plenty of government regulating bodies are sitting on the sideline when it comes to clarification on the digital currency bitcoin.  Now that Overstock is accepting bitcoin is it begs the question of how long it will last before tax implications are clearly expressed and enforced.

The IRS does need to tread lightly, to0 tight regulations or large tax burdens could drive bitcoin underground where they would have no recourse. This would also hinder bitcoin businesses from launching in the USA and moving to more bitcoin free countries like Germany, Singapore and others.

Either way, the pressure is on:

overstock-irs

Continue reading →

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Bitcoin’s Tipping Point Could Come Soon

Walmart-Store

An article over on Bitcoin Magazine has come out comparing Overstock’s recent adoption with what it would be like if Walmart started accepting and paying its employees and suppliers in bitcoin.

According to the Census Bureau, there are slightly more than 27,000,000 firms active in the United States, the vast majority of which are the sort of small, independent shops that might be inclined to become early adopters of Bitcoin. However, Walmart alone accounts for more than 2% of annual GDP in the United States.  Continue reading →

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Bitcoin is live at Overstock.com! (updated)

overstock-bitcoinConfirmed by Overstock.com’s tweet, they now accept the digital currency – Bitcoin!

Founded in 1997, Overstock.com has grown tremendously over the years by selling of a verety of store’s over stocked items online. They boast revenues of over a billion dollars annually.

This is a huge shift in support for the Bitcoin protocol and with this type of news it only means good things for the value of bitcoin in the long run. With its frictionless transfer and inability to counterfeit, many other retailers have got their eye on bitcoin as well. Continue reading →

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IRS: Tax Implications for Bitcoin Investors

bitcoin hand bitcoinne.wsBy now most everyone has heard of Bitcoin. But exactly what is it? And how should it be taxed?

Bitcoin is usually described as virtual currency. That’s useful shorthand, but is it really money? And should it be taxed as if it is? Or is it a capital asset? How about a commodity? And then there is the matter of using this quasi-cash to avoid taxes and regulation altogether.

The IRS says it is studying the matter but has yet to issue any guidance. Until it does, it is anyone’s guess how Bitcoin should be taxed. Most users/investors will simply pick what is most beneficial to them when they file their 2013 returns.

See the full article here.

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Bitcoin Will Be Worthless – WSJ Investing Lessons From 2013

wsj-bitcoinToday, a Wall Street Journal investing lesson chat session was prompted by BitcoinNe.ws to comment about bitcoin as a 2013 investment in its closing remarks. After first deleting the question from the que and not responding, we asked a few more times about bitcoin in the chat room full of crickets.

Charles Rotblut started off saying bitcoin will be “worthless” eventually and continued to spout off false associations with the gold rush, adoption rates and decentralization. He finished up with, “Bitcoin is interesting, but extremely speculative.”

Continue reading →

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Breaking: Facebook Tests Bitcoin Payments on Advertising Platform

facebook

We’ve heard about large companies, like Overstock.com and Netflix, testing bitcoin integration, but now one of the largest internet based companies in the world – Facebook?

Global companies like Facebook are a perfect match for digital currencies. They go through expensive red tape all the time trying to convert fiat currencies from on to another. Bitcoin will allow them to accept instant payments from any country, at any time, for any value. This news alone will be boosting price to new levels, let alone when its integrated and live.

Continue reading →

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A Wall Street Analyst Has Identified The Winners And Losers In The Rise Of Bitcoin

winners-bitcoinBitcoin continues to persevere through anything and everythingthrown at it: fraud schemes, thefts, rulings from the People’s Bank of China, etc.

Prices have now recovered to more than $800 on the Mt. Gox exchange after falling below $500 late last year.

So we are not totally surprised to see increasing coverage of the cryptocurrency by Wall Street analysts.

In a new note to clients, Wedbush analyst Gil Luria lays out which companies Bitcoin and/or cryptocurrencies in general could boost, and destroy.

“We believe Bitcoin and its associated technology represent a potential disruption to our covered companies,” wrote Lauria. “Furthermore, we believe Bitcoin’s potential lies beyond the ‘coin’ as the underlying blockchain protocol can be used to replace traditional intermediaries by acting as an exchange mechanism for a multitude of transactions.”

Check out the winners and losers at the rest of the article, here:  http://www.businessinsider.com/winners-and-losers-in-bitcoin-2014-1#ixzz2pNYoZZXv

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Price Discovery in the Absence of Bitcoin Exchanges

Recently, authorities in India, China, Korea, Denmark, France, and Norway have issued stern warnings regarding the use and trade of bitcoin and other digital currencies.

As a consequence, important exchange outlets for price discovery have been slowed or shuttered following the government advisories. Furthermore, India and China represent nearly half of the globe’s total population.

The world has mostly underestimated the latent demand for a free and nonpolitical currency unit. In the face of this percolating demand, the arrogance of our monetary overlords is startling.

Rest of the article here.

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Bitcoin is not backed by anything

bitcoin_logoThis is a common objection I hear when people are trying to find reasons not to jump into bitcoin, or claim bitcoin can’t succeed.

Besides the statement that “bitcoin is not backed by anything” being untrue, lets not even go there for a second.

Why does it need to be backed by something like a government or commodity?

Only a currency that holds no value in of itself needs to be backed by something of value.

Does gold or silver have a backer? No, and they have been the longest standing form of money in history. Gold is not created by government decree nor can it be created out of thin air. Gold has value because it is a finite resource that has all the qualities of being “money”.

The same goes for Bitcoin. You can see in this video that bitcoin can even outperform gold in todays digital age.  Continue reading →