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Blockchain.info Web Wallet Users Have Transacted $19.6 Billion in Bitcoin

The short article comes as somewhat of a correction and follow-up to a news report we published at the start of the month. Therein, we had reported that Blockchain.info web wallet users had transacted just over three billion dollars worth of bitcoin.

We didn’t just pull the information from thin air, though. It came from the site’s own counter at blockchain.info/wallet (which we recognize is probably not an exact reflection of true figures but supplies an accurate projection).

You’ll probably be surprised to learn that the actual amount that’s been transacted via the Blockchain.info web wallet is on the order of $19.6 billion at the time of this writing (as indicated by the counter).

Was there a magical jump from the beginning of this month to now? The answer is simply no.

I caught up with Blockchain CEO Nicolas Cary Monday evening in attempt to get find clarity on the matter.

“The current number is accurate,” he said, referring to the above-mentioned transaction counter. And there wasn’t a ‘magical’ jump. Rather, a technical issue in May was the cause of the discrepancy.

“After our outage in May some auxiliary services needed to be reset before we could restore historical data,” Cary added. “The $3 billion was accurate for the past few months. Which is pretty impressive.”

Impressive, indeed.

Blockchain.info serves as the most popular bitcoin hub on the internet, starting off first as a block chain explorer. The company’s web wallet service now has over 1.7 million users, too.

Growing rapidly, the company continues their attempts to provide the most useful resources to new and seasoned users of this revolutionary digital currency.

 

Robocoin Soon Presenting

Robocoin Soon Presenting to Italian Parliament and Launch Italy’s First Bitcoin ATM

Las Vegas-based Robocoin has announced that CEO Jordan Kelley is enroute to Rome to present to the Italian Parliament and launch the first bitcoin ATM in Italy on the 26th of June.

On the matter, Kelley said that “this is an opportunity to help educate and have meaningful conversations with Italy’s influential government. Italy is full of cultural tastemakers and has a rich history in banking and finance. These all support Robocoin’s goal of helping proliferate Bitcoin.”

Specifically, Kelley is said to be presenting the Robocoin’s AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know-your-customer) features (which includes biometric scanners), which will be a part of the fourth-annual “No Cash Day”, an event that’s been promoted by Parliament member Sergio Boccadutri (and organized by CashlessWay).

Representatives from Hyperion, Unicredit, the Italian Banking Association, MasterCard, the Bitcoin Foundation and more will be joining Kelley.

From the announcement:

Headlined by the event “Bitcoin in the real economy,” this public hearing at the Chamber of Deputies (which, along with the Senate, form the Italian Parliament) will feature lawmakers, bankers, public utility representatives and entrepreneurs debating Bitcoin’s potential in real economy. Supporters are expected to be advocating laws to integrate Bitcoin in the Italian economy. A variety of cyprocurrency-centric topics will be examined including business opportunities, tax implications and controls to avoid criminal activities.

After the presentation, Jordan Kelley will depart the Parliament and head over to Luiss EnLabs (a leading Italian incubator) inside Termini Station to activate the first Robocoin in the country.

The event will be livestreamed.

The news comes just two months after Kelley traveled to the Capital of the United States to present the Robocoin to influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Genesis1 Bitcoin ATM

Genesis1 Bitcoin ATM Goes Live at World Trade Center Building in São Paulo, Brazil

There’s a brand-spanking-new bitcoin ATM available for bitcoin enthusiasts available in Brazil, according to a Tuesday announcement from San Diego-based Genesis Coin.

Deployed by Coinverse, the Genesis1 ATM is located at the Shopping Nações Unidas at the World Trade Center building in São Paulo, Brazil.

Coinverse starts their operations during a time when the world’s eyes are fixed on Brazil with the ongoing World Cup games.

“This launch comes at an ideal time and place to bring convenience and flexibility to the large number of international tourists who will be visiting Brazil during the World Cup. With this, we will establish ourselves as a reference in the sector with the corporate audience and those linked to new technologies,” said Safiri Felix of Coinverse.

From the announcement:

It is undeniable that the World Cup is moving the national economy. Independent of the initial forecasts overvalued or the most pessimistic current estimates, the truth is that since the announcement that the event would take place in Brazil, investors worldwide sought business opportunities to be made in the country during that period. Brazil expects from 600 thousand to 01 million tourists and foreigners, and about 03 million Brazilian tourists, the so-called internal tourism. The biggest sporting event in the world, according to research commissioned by the Brasilian Ministry of Sports, should yield about U.S. $ 183 billion to the country until 2019. With this panorama many companies are starting business in the country in order to attract customers and foreign investors, especially those based on business models already successful in other parts of the world.

Coinverse is soon planning to open another bitcoin ATM in Rio de Janeiro, with plans to expand to Montevideo, Santiago and also in all Brazilian State capitals. Beyond that, Coinverse seeks to even expand beyond Brazilian borders to other countries in South America.

“We have the capital and expertise to be the largest Bitcoin enterprise in Latin America. We have many partners to fulfill our commitment to help people participate in the world of Bitcoin and facilitate international transactions using this technology. It’s a huge opportunity,” Felix added

Atlas ATS Partners With Strevus For KYC/AML Compliance

Digital currency trading platform Atlas ATS has partnered up with Strevus, Inc., a company specializing in compliance lifecycle management solutions for financial service institutions to help out Atlas’s institutional clients be in compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance.

In April, Strevus expanded their business model to encompass bitcoin and digital currencies.

“The single biggest barrier to the institutional adoption of cryptocurrency is the conflict between the pseudonymous nature of the transacting counterparties and the regulatory requirements,” said Shawn Sloves, CEO at Atlas ATS. “Using Strevus’s solution, our members will be able to easily manage the onboarding process, collect information for KYC and AML reporting, and monitor and analyze the data required to ensure ongoing compliance. In the future, we plan to leverage Strevus’s compliance technology for multiple private markets.”

The conversation surround AML/KYC has increased significantly over the past year as the use of bitcoin and other digital currencies has increased significantly. And it’s become one of the major issues to consider when establishing an exchange.

Companies that neglect to comply in a proper fashion face stiff penalties, too.

“It’s clear that cryptocurrency exchanges and their members are under pressure to meet the enhanced due diligence requirements needed to maintain compliance,” said Strevus CEO Ken Hoang. “Strevus, recognizing this need, is providing a solution for the initial onboarding and KYC checks as well as ongoing due diligence. Our solution follows industry best practices and cuts the time to onboard new customers while dramatically reducing costs.”

ZipZap Brings Digital Currency

ZipZap Brings Digital Currency Buying Back to 20,000 Retail Locations

Some better news for residents in the United Kingdom who might be looking to buy bitcoin. ZipZap announced on Tuesday that they’re bringing their global cash transaction network back to 20,000 retail locations in the UK.

The announcement come following a news item at the end of March in which we learned that the company would be halting the processing of digital currency transactions. The halt directly related to ZipZap’s payment processor, PayPoint, and its desire to put the processing on hold until the legalities surrounding there digital currency transactions became clearer.

Now, ZipZap is working with a company called Payzone, one of the leaders in consumer payments in the country.

So what does this mean for you (assuming you live in the UK)? You’ll be able to purchase digital currency like bitcoin, litecoin, and yes, even dogecoin through ZipZap’s exchange partners, which include ANX, Bittylicious, and Buybitcoin.sg.

“Many UK consumers prefer dealing with cash without having to disclose their banking information,” said Simon Nahnybida, ZipZap’s Senior Vice President of Business Development. “Our partnership with Payzone allows customers to easily buy digital currencies online and pay at convenient locations within a walking distance from their home or work.”

Here’s what Mark Mellor, Director of Sales and Marketing at Payzone, had to say:

“We are very excited to partner with ZipZap and participate in the digital currency economy [...] We strive to provide the best products and services with the utmost convenience and ZipZap’s practices fall in line with our belief of providing quick and cost-effective payment services to consumers whilst offering an extra service for our merchants to add to their Payzone basket of services.”

Bitcoin Shop Registers With U.S. Marshals Service For Bitcoin Auction

With news that the United States Marshals Service is planning to auction off about 30,000 bitcoins later this week (seized from the Silk Road illicit marketplace in 2013), big names are looking for some way to get involved.

One such name happens to be Bitcoin Shop, Inc., an online retail store that sells a variety of products that can be purchased using the bitcoin digital currency.

The company said on Monday that they have submitted registration with the United States Marshals Service in direct relation with the bitcoin auction. It’s the prerequisite to the actual bidding process, which will take place on Friday, June 27th.

In order for an entity to register for the auction, they must first wire a $200,000 [refundable] deposit via a United States bank account. Bitcoin Shop says they’ve completed this step, but is awaiting final approval from the Marshals Service.

“We believe in the future of virtual currencies and have made a strategic decision to participate in this unprecedented opportunity by wiring the deposit and submitting a registration application to the USMS,” said Charles Allen, CEO of Bitcoin Shop. “We look forward to updating shareholders on the status of our application and any subsequent bid after June 27, 2014.”

Bitcoin Shop isn’t the only bitcoin-related company to want to take part in the auction. SecondMarket/Bitcoin Investment Trust CEO Barry Silbert recently announced the formation of a syndicate that would collectively bid in Friday’s auction.

And last week, the Marshals Service inadvertently revealed a list of entities that had expressed interest in the auction, which includes Bitcoin Shop, a Coinbase executive, and a staffer at BNP Paribas.

Major Italian Newspaper il Giornale Accepting Bitcoin For Digital Subscriptions

A major Italian newspaper outlet is apparently now accepting bitcoin for digital subscriptions, we’re learning from a reader email this morning. The bitcoin logo is boldly visible on il Giornale‘s digital subscriptions page [link], where nearby it says, “The Journal is the first newspaper in Italy and in Europe who accepts payments in Bitcoin.”

The outlet is one of the top 20 daily papers in Italy, with a last reported circulation number of 678,000 readers in 2012.

il Giornale‘s digital subscriptions allow readers to view all news categories and articles in PDF files optimized for Android smartphones, iPads, and other tablet devices.

The cost? 0.42 cents per day with an annual subscription.

Despite the fact that il Giornale may be the first major newspaper in Italy and Europe to accept bitcoin, they aren’t the first in the world.

Here in the United States, the Chicago Sun-Times announced they would be accepting bitcoin payments for subscriptions at the start of April of this year in a move designed “to keep the Sun-Times current and evolving with changing technology.”

Despite the news, many in the community weren’t exactly surprised, given the paper’s previous interest in the digital currency. In early February, the paper put up a bitcoin paywall as a test of how users would interact with using bitcoin (users had the option of donating to a non-profit). The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 713 donors.

While we haven’t exactly seen widespread adoption of bitcoin for digital news subscriptions, it’s nice to see it getting a start in Italy

 

U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Seeks to Give Bitcoin More Attention

A new report from Bloomberg suggests that bitcoin is about to get a whole lot more attention from the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

The investigative arm of the United States Congress, The Government Accountability Office had written in what has been described as a confidential report that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needed to be more active in the field of creating digital currency policies.

The Bureau responded to the Government Accountability Office in agreement:

“We’re looking forward to increasing our involvement in formal working groups as they engage on specific issues relating to consumer protection,” wrote William Wade-Gery, the acting assistant director for card and payment markets in early May.

The Government Accountability Office hasn’t outlined how they want the Bureau to be more active in the digital currencies policies space, but it’s likely to be related to regulation and preventing financial crimes.

“GAO’s report underscores the importance that all sectors — law enforcement, industry, relevant regulators, and consumer protection agencies — must come to the table and engage in meaningful dialogue to provide clear rules of the road for entrepreneurs, investors, and consumers alike,” said Senator Tom Carper in a statement emailed to Bloomberg.

Tom Carper led Senate hearings on bitcoin last year, and has become one of the first lawmakers to take a serious look at digital currency usage in today’s economy.

BTC-e Establishes New PAMM Service

Popular cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e announced via their website this week that they are now offering traders their new PAMM service, a first in the sector.

PAMM — or Percent Allocation Management Module — will allow BTC-e investors to follow the trading strategies (using a slave account) of both professional and experienced traders (a master account).

Over the past several years PAMM technology has been extensively used by traders in the currency exchange markets. It is a proven and effective instrument for money management, investments and strategy copying. BTC-e is the first crypto-currency exchange to make PAMM accounts available for bitcoin traders.

Explained by BTC-e:

Traders can select a suitable strategy with the help of PAMM account rating and graphs that display the Master’s trading results in the past. The Master uses his own capital for trading and trades via the Meta Trader 4 terminal. And his trading strategy is replicated on an unlimited number of ‘Slave’ accounts. As a remuneration the Master receives part of the profit from each ‘Slave account’, that follows his strategy. Profits and remuneration are calculated automatically within the PAMM technology and are paid strictly on time.

The idea is to allow anyone — new or experienced — to get in the game and start generating profits. And the addition of the feature is reflective of BTC-e’s desire to remain one of the top crypto exchanges today.

It will certainly need some time to get off the ground, but it will be interesting to see where this goes in the weeks ahead. If you’re looking for additional information on this, you can visit pamm.btc-e.com

Meet Australia’s Newest Bitcoin Exchange: CoinTree

The evolution of bitcoin exchanges over the past year and a half have been interesting. We’ve seen many exchanges come and go, and our Australian friends may be pleased to know their country now has another option for trading digital currency.

It’s called CoinTree, and it’s based in Melbourne and run by two software engineers (who thankfully also happen to be members of the bitcoin community) who have a combined twenty years of experience in building global software (they also frequently attend the Melbourne bitcoin meetup if you want to meet them).

From what I’ve observed, the website appears to be fairly well designed. And they have this great instant demo that allows you to try out the system without having an account.

Also interesting: when a user makes a deposit into their secure wallet on CoinTree, they can actually verify the balance using a block chain explorer so they know exactly where their money is.

Fees are important, and according to the exchange’s announcement today on Reddit, there aren’t any buy or sell fees on the platform. There also aren’t any fees to withdraw bitcoin from the exchange. If you are, however, looking to withdraw in cash, a 2 percent fee will apply.

Of course, they’re only getting started here, so it will be a while before we know if this platform will take off. But hey, at least there’s another option available.

For additional details, visit cointree.com.au

Project Skyhook Announces Shipment of 150th Bitcoin ATM

Bitcoin ATMs: they’ve become so very popular. A point proven today by Project Skyhook, who announced via their blog that they have shipped their 150th unit.

Demand for the Skyhook units have been quite high primarily given their low-cost pricing. Compared to competitors’ pricing, the Skyhook only runs at $999, and Project Skyhook says that demand “is very strong, and growing every day.”

In the past month, the team says they’ve sold 70 ATMs, and they’re apparently projecting even greater demand in the next month.

“Our goal this year is to sell 1,000 units, and thanks to our great customers (seriously, we love you, thank you), we’re strongly on track to meet that goal,” they write.

The team also notes that customer issues with the machines have been minimal, adding they’ve “gotten a lot of great testimonials and very creative use stories.”

They write:

Our goal with Skyhook has been to make it possible for everyone to become a Bitcoin exchange, so that the buying of Bitcoin is easy, accessible, and not restricted to a single central source. We’re happy that people are using Skyhook ATMs to make it easy for everyone to buy Bitcoins, and we’re proud of our role in improving the Bitcoin ecosystem by reducing our dependence on centralized exchanges.

Skyhook ATMs are designed to be easy to manufacture, and even feature a pre-installed tablet to act as the touch screen interface.

Most recently, Canadian start-up Quadriga CX announced plans to install 30 of the devices throughout Vancouver

QuickBooks Online Adds Support for ‘PayByCoin’ For Bitcoin Payments

Intuit’s QuickBooks Online has become the first cloud accounting system to allow small businesses to accept bitcoin payments, we’re learning via a blog post sent to us by a company spokesperson earlier today

The California-based company’s new PayByCoin service has been made possible through an integration between QuickBooks Online and Coinbase — a bitcoin merchant services provider and broker.

For the small businesses using QuickBooks Online to generate their electronic invoices, PayByCoin comes as a free add-on, which is certainly convenient.

Here’s how the whole thing works, as explained by Intuit:

1. The small business owner/operator must first register with Coinbase and link their wallets to their existing QuickBooks Online account.

2. Customers who receive and invoice have the option to pay by traditional means (credit card, etc.), but also have the option to pay in bitcoin.

3. Intuit isn’t charging any fee for the service (although Coinbase does charge a 1 percent fee after the first $1 million in sales).

The company explains:

Intuit is providing the connectivity and software services to direct customers to the small business operators CoinBase wallet, and to record the transactions in QuickBooks Online. Intuit will not receive or hold any funds related to the PayByCoin transactions, either in USD or Bitcoins.

It’s an interesting development in the world of bitcoin e-commerce, especially seeing such a large company getting involved with the digital currency in this manner.

As a business owner, how inclined would you be to use this service?