Currency updates & News

How Bitcoin Saved Me In Cash Strapped Zimbabwe Story by  Frisco d'Anconia on   04/05/2017 Africa’s lack of financial inclusion is an immense nagging headache. Throughout the continent, there are nearly 80% of the adult population who are unbanked. Get exclusive analysis of bitcoin and learn from our trading tutorials. Join  Hacked.com  for just $39 now. Aside, inflation continues to cripple businesses and dwindle wealth creation. The phenomenon keeps wiping the middle class pushing many to the economic fringes. But thanks to Satoshi Nakamoto and the many others who followed his footsteps, the advent of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies offer unprecedented opportunities to Africans to participate in the global economy. It is also a tremendous chance to engage in cross-border trade without the costly involvement of third parties. Across Africa With Bitcoin As an African Fintech journalist, I’m embarking on a journey to six Southern African countries,...

BY   :Ellery Davies Zimbabwe is the only country with a 100 trillion dollar note. It’s a sign of rampant inflation. If you live in Zimbabwe, it makes sense that you seek to own Bitcoin. Your economy would become more stable, if only the government would switch to Bitcoin. — [ continue below image ] I suggest that you find a friend with an address in one of these  34 countries . It is not necessary that you trust the friend with the keys to your wealth, because only you and family members that you designate will have the account passwords. Choose someone with citizenship and a physical mailing address in a country that does not have a tax treaty with Zimbabwe. Your friend won’t tell Coinbase that the account is for a citizen of Zimbabwe, but if he is audited by his own tax authority (or if Coinbase is compelled to match and report the earnings of a buy/sell transaction), he may need to demonstrate to his own tax authority that the account is custodial. Your frie...

With the opening of its new cryptocurrency research lab, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) released the official address and other details about the effort this week. According to  local media , the PBoC Digital Currency Institute is located on the 9th floor of Building C,  Desheng International Center , an office build complex near Beijing's financial district. Notably, t he building also houses subsidiaries of China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation, a state-owned corporation that carries out the minting of all renminbi coins, as well as the printing of renminbi banknotes Yao Qian , the former deputy director of PBoC's technology department, will serve as director of the newly formed facility, which reportedly has seven divisions with research interests including blockchain and fintech. A recruitment notice issued by the central bank in November revealed that the PBoC is actively developing prototypes related to blockchain-backed digital currency. Amon...

Many companies are accepting bitcoins, many are not. Here is a list of the biggest (and smaller) names  who accepts bitcoins  as a currency. WordPress.com  – An online company that allows user to create free blogs Overstock.com  – A company that sells big ticket items at lower prices due to overstocking Subway  – Eat fresh Microsoft  – Users can buy content with Bitcoin on Xbox and Windows store Reddit  – You can buy premium features there with bitcoins Virgin Galactic  – Richard Branson company that includes Virgin Mobile and Virgin Airline OkCupid  – Online dating site Tigerdirect  – Major electronic online retailer Namecheap  – Domain name registrar CheapAir.com  – Travel booking site for airline tickets, car rentals, hotels Expedia.com  – Online travel booking agency Gyft  – Buy giftcards using Bitcoin Newegg.com  – Online electronics retailer now uses bitpay to accept bitcoin as paym...

Before Bitcoin, there was cryptocurrency. Indeed, it has a long and deep history. If only for the lessons learned, it is worth studying, and indeed, in my ABC of Bitcoin investing, I consider not knowing anything before Satoshi’s paper as a red flag. Hence, a very fast history of what came before. Early Days The first known (to me) attempt at cryptocurrencies occurred in the Netherlands, in the late 1980s, which makes it around 25 years ago or 20BBTC. In the middle of the night, the petrol stations in the remoter areas were being raided for cash, and the operators were unhappy putting guards at risk there. But the petrol stations had to stay open overnight so that the trucks could refuel.Someone had the bright idea of putting money onto the new-fangled smartcards that were then being trialed, and so electronic cash was born. Drivers of trucks were given these cards instead of cash, and the stations were now safer from robbery.At the same time the dominant retailer, Albert Heijn,...

The world's largest multilateral development bank is launching a blockchain lab as part of a bid to pilot projects that can improve governance and social outcomes in the developing world. The World Bank, based in Washington, DC, officially launched the venue Tuesday morning to serve as a forum for learning, experimentation and collaboration on  distributed ledger technology .  The blockchain lab will now seek to bring together internal and external participants to work on  blockchain use cases  of significance to the bank's more than 80 client countries. Core focus areas will include land registry, digital identity, aid distribution and financial infrastructure. Trust and poverty At the event launch, Denis Robitaille, vice president and chief information officer of the World Bank's technology division, said that the lab's objective is to explore and build with its non-profit and technology partners, and to produce proofs-of-concept that can then be roll...

A Connecticut resident pleaded guilty this week to fraud and money laundering offenses committed as part of an elaborate effort to steal cryptocurrency. In Hartford Federal Court on Tuesday, 35-year-old Michael Richo of Wallingford, Connecticut, admitted to stealing $365,000 in  bitcoin   through a phishing scheme in which he posted fraudulent links designed to resemble popular dark market websites, according to a release from the US  Department of Justice . Prosecutors found he later used this information to monitor the bitcoin accounts and balances of victims. Richo admitted he stole over 10,000 usernames and passwords in such a method, using these to sell the victims' assets on bitcoin exchange platforms for US currency. No details were provided as to the nature of the accounts that were compromised, and whether they were software wallets (in which the users controlled their funds) or hosted wallet services (where the bitcoins in question wer...

Alternative currency evangelists have long had a tough, uphill battle to fight. Despite some notable current examples, including Berkshares, Chiemgauer, and Brixton Pound, many community currencies have a hard time getting started, and gradually fizzle out after time due to lack of enthusiasm. Bitcoin, on the other hand, hasn’t stopped growing. Why is this? What can we learn? Some people would say that “Bitcoin” is based on greed and we shouldn’t even consider it. If that’s you, stop here. But for most of us, there are things we can learn from the success of Bitcoin, the technology which has captured the spotlight of the mainstream media and catapulted digital currency onto the world stage. If you are still listening, here are some things that community currencies could learn from the tremendous success of Bitcoin: An open ecosystem. As I note in this old piece on open source software ecosystems (http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-build-a-vibrant-open-source-community), buildi...