Currency updates & News

China's central bank is mulling plans to launch its own digital currency as soon as possible. The People's Bank of China said it has been studying digital currencies since 2014 and reviewing what implementation would look like. But in a statement posted on its website this week, the bank didn't give a specific timeframe for when such a currency could become a reality, nor did it say how it would work in relation to its paper currency, the yuan. Issuing digital money could help "reduce the high costs of circulating traditional currencies ... boost the convenience and transparency of transactions, reduce  money laundering , tax evasion and other criminal acts," according to the statement, which summarized the findings of a special meeting on the subject in Beijing this week. Related: What is Bitcoin? Digital currencies have been in the spotlight with the rise of Bitcoin in recent years. Created in 2009 by an unknown person using an alias,  Bitcoin  ...

Flashy startups like Coinbase, Circle, Blockchain, and BitPay are some of the most famous companies in bitcoin.  But arguably more important are the miners — individuals and organisations who form the core backbone of bitcoin, ensuring the digital currency's integrity. Bitcoin runs on a blockchain, a decentralised and public ledger of every transaction made on the network. By offering processing power towards this, users get a chance to win bitcoin — creating an arms race of miners scrambling to assemble ever-more sophisticated and powerful equipment to "mine" new bitcoin. This decentralisation has huge benefits, but also comes with new risks: Right now, if just the top three organisations joined forces they would control 51% of the network — giving them the power to rewrite the blockchain as they see fit. Some individuals go it alone; others join open "pools" where they combine their resources to improve their odds; some larger companies...

Blockchain , the London-based bitcoin currency service provider, has raised $40 million of fresh funding, representing one of the largest investment rounds in the financial technology sector since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. New investors in the company, which provides technology such as virtual bitcoin wallets and analytical tools for the digital currency’s underlying system, include Google’s GV, which led the funding with Lakestar. Existing investors, including  Lightspeed Venture Partners  and Sir Richard Branson, provided new financing. “The pace of innovation in the digital currency space is unmatched,” said Tom Hulme, a partner at GV. “We were impressed by Blockchain’s consistent market traction and dedication to building secure financial products for an increasing number of users.” Bitcoin, and the blockchain system that powers it, is one of several virtual currencies and the value of one bitcoin skyrocketed more than 300 percent in the last year....

The graph below shows the market share of the most popular bitcoin mining pools. It should only be used as a rough estimate and for various reasons will not be 100% accurate.  A large portion of Unknown blocks does not mean an attack on the network, it simply means we have been unable to determine the origin. Known Blocks. Relayed By count AntPool 107 BTC.TOP 91 F2Pool 55 BTC.com 46 Bixin 44 BTCC Pool 38 SlushPool 26 ViaBTC 26 BW.COM 25 BitClub Network 25 CANOE 16 BitFury 14 1Hash 12 Kano CKPool 12 Bitcoin.com 12 GBMiners 10 BATPOOL 6 Unknown 4 Telco 214 4 ConnectBTC 3 Waterhole 3 shawnp0wers 1 GoGreenLight 1 Bitcoin India 1

Bitcoin is a form of digital currency, created and held electronically. No one controls it. Bitcoins aren’t printed, like dollars or euros – they’re produced by people, and increasingly businesses, running computers all around the world, using software that solves mathematical problems. It’s the first example of a growing category of money known as cryptocurrency. What makes it different from normal currencies? Bitcoin can be used to buy things electronically. In that sense, it’s like conventional dollars, euros, or yen, which are also traded digitally. However, bitcoin’s most important characteristic, and the thing that makes it different to conventional money, is that it is  decentralized . No single institution controls the bitcoin network. This puts some people at ease, because it means that a large bank can’t control their money. Who created it? A software developer called  Satoshi Nakamoto  proposed bitcoin, which was an electronic payment system based ...