Bitcoin 1oz Silver 999 Bullion - Commemorative Round

The Bitcoin, an alternative cryptocurrency, has recently taken the world by storm.  While the value of paper fiat currency falls around the world the Bitcoin has grown in popularity.  It has gained worldwide media recognition and has recently reached prices of $130 for 1 BTC.  The coin celebrates the spontaneous emergence of this alternative virtual medium of exchange by artistically marrying it to one of the oldest commodity currencies in written history: silver, thus giving it the almost tongue in cheek name: The ‘Bitcoin Coin’.  

The coin’s message, printed boldly around the Bitcoin currency symbol sums up this iconic new and old relationship:  “Commodity banks and cryptocurrencies will render central banks desolate- Free the currency, free the people”.

The Bitcoin Coin features the iconic Bitcoin currency symbol on its obverse. It is set on a background of a computer circuit board and boldly states the message “Commodity banks and crypto currencies will render central banks desolate- Free the currency, free the people”. An operational QR code decorates the reverse, in dual finish: the foreground is satin, and the background is mirror-finish. When scanned by a smart phone the code directs you to the M2 Factory Store. Give it a try!

Regulators See Value in Bitcoin, and Investors Hasten to Agree

Jennifer Shasky Calvery, left, with Mythili Raman and Edward Lowery on Monday at a hearing in Washington

The virtual currency bitcoin took a big step toward the mainstream on Monday as federal authorities signaled their willingness to accept it as a legitimate payment alternative.

A number of federal officials told a Senate hearing that such financial networks offered real benefits for the financial system even as they acknowledged that new forms of digital money had provided avenues for money laundering and illegal activity.

“There are plenty of opportunities for digital currencies to operate within existing laws and regulations,” said Edward Lowery, a special agent with the Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting the integrity of the dollar.

Signs that the government would not stand in the way of bitcoin’s development, even as it has been cracking down on criminal networks that use the digital money, stoked a strong rally in the price of the crypto-currency.

By Monday evening, the value of a bitcoin unit soared past $700 on some exchanges. The total outstanding pool of bitcoin — which is created by a network of users who solve complex mathematical problems — is now worth more than $7 billion.

The Senate hearing Monday afternoon was the clearest indication yet of the government’s desire to grapple with the consequences of this growth, and the recognition that bitcoin and other similar networks could become more lasting and significant parts of the financial landscape.

“The decision to bring virtual currency within the scope of our regulatory framework should be viewed by those who respect and obey the basic rule of law as a positive development for this sector,” said Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the director of the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. “It recognizes the innovation virtual currencies provide, and the benefits they might offer.”

Ms. Shasky Calvery and the other officials at the hearing did say that basic questions still had to be answered about virtual currencies, including whether they can actually be considered currencies or whether they are more properly categorized as commodities or securities. The distinction will determine which agencies regulate the networks and how they are treated under tax law.

Ms. Shasky Calvery said that the Internal Revenue Service was “actively working” on its own rules for bitcoin.

The hearing followed other less visible steps taken by regulators and lawmakers to bring digital money into the mainstream.

New York State’s top financial regulator, Benjamin M. Lawsky, said last week that he would hold a hearing to consider the creation of a BitLicense to provide more oversight for transactions. Earlier, the Federal Election Commission put out an advisory indicating that bitcoin could be legally accepted as political donations.

The general counsel of the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit advocating the currency, said in his testimony on Monday that he was receiving a much more friendly response from both government and the financial industry.

“We have recently perceived a marked improvement in the tone and tenor taken by both state officials and bank executives,” the general counsel, Patrick Murck, said.

Bitcoin has experienced a remarkable ascent since it was created in 2009 by an anonymous programmer or collective known as Satoshi Nakamoto. The money, which is not tied to any national currency, has been popular with technophiles who are skeptical of the world’s central banks. Only a finite amount of bitcoin will ever be created — 21 million units. Users have bid up the price on Internet exchanges, betting that the currency will be more widely used in the future.

There are significant questions about the wisdom of the digital money as an investment, given that bitcoin has no intrinsic value and has proved to be vulnerable to hackers. Many money managers have recommended that unsophisticated investors stay away.

Recently, though, bitcoin has been catching fire around the world, with exchanges in China particularly active. A growing number of prominent American investors have also bought stakes, including Michael Novogratz, a principal at the private equity and hedge fund giant Fortress Investment Group, as well as the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler.

The increasingly widespread ownership of bitcoin has shifted attention away from the criminal enterprises that have used digital money, but it was a focus at the Senate hearing.

Last month, the online marketplace Silk Road, where bitcoin was the primary form of payment, was shut down and its founder arrested after authorities accused it of being used to buy and sell drugs, weapons and pornography. The chairman of the Senate committee, Thomas R. Carper, Democrat of Delaware, said that a few days after the arrest, a similar site sprang up.

It can be harder to track criminals who use bitcoin, law enforcement officials said at the hearing, because they operate across international borders and often do not use established financial institutions that report transactions.

But Mythili Raman, an assistant attorney general at the Justice Department, also said that because every bitcoin transaction was recorded on a public ledger, it was possible for investigators to trace the movement of money between accounts.

“It is not in fact anonymous. It is not immune from investigation,” Ms. Raman said.

All the officials at the hearing said that crime had been an issue during the early days of credit cards and online payment systems like PayPal, and should not be a reason to limit innovation.

“It is our duty as law enforcement to stay vigilant while recognizing that there are many legitimate users of those services,” Ms. Raman said.

The bitcoin supporters who testified at the hearing said bitcoin could bring major changes to the financial system by cutting out the middle men needed to move money around the world.

“I am here to testify because I believe that global digital currency represents one of the most important technical and economic innovations of our time,” said Jeremy Allaire, the chief executive of Circle Internet Financial, which is seeking to promote more widespread use of the currency.

Given bitcoin’s appeal to skeptics of government, many aficionados have been wary of involvement by Washington. But advocates at the hearing said that the increasing cooperation with regulators could lay the groundwork for further growth.

“As this technology moves from early adopters into mainstream acceptance, it is critical in my view that federal and state governments establish policies surrounding digital currency,” Mr. Allaire said.

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Bitcoin Spawns China Virtual IPOs as U.S. Scrutiny Grows

Eager to profit from growing demand for the digital currency, Sun has invested more than $3,000 in a company called 796 Xchange Ltd., an online exchange for trading stocks and other financial instruments related to Bitcoin, where initial public offerings are also being held.

He’s part of a small but growing group of investors in China who have put the country into contention with the U.S. as the biggest downloader of the virtual money that’s being used to buy a growing range of goods and services online. While intensified scrutiny by U.S. regulators casts doubt on the currency’s future there, China’s Bitcoin industry is expanding.

“What’s worrisome is that a lot of people could be just treating it as a speculative investment,” said Peter Pak, head of trading of BOCI Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. “In China, the stock market, property and bond market are all not so good, so people get really excited when they hear of a new investment that generates high returns.”

Sun’s outlay of about 28 Bitcoins -- or $3,108 -- for more than 400 shares in 796 Xchange has returned about 46 percent since the stock’s Aug. 1 debut on the company’s own website. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) has only gained about 2 percent during the same period.

 

‘Expensive to Crack’

Bitcoin is similar to other currencies -- say, the Mexican peso -- except it’s not controlled by any government and the total number is capped at about 21 million coins. Computer users can “mine” them by solving mathematical puzzles -- uncovering the hidden series of letters and numbers that matches up with security keys specified by the computer programmers who invented Bitcoin in 2009. As more are mined, the puzzles get harder, and therefore more expensive to crack.

Sun turned to shares of Bitcoin companies after initially trying to mine the currency crunching algorithms on souped-up PCs at his office and home. He gave up after a month, concluding that his computers weren’t up to the task.

“Simple desktops can no longer dig them up,” he said.
There are about 11.5 million Bitcoins in circulation, according to Blockchain.info, which tracks the virtual currency. At today’s price of about $121, there’s still $1.15 billion to unearth. The inherent scarcity of Bitcoin that was intended to help secure its value has also attracted early investors --

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins known for their claim to have co-founded Facebook Inc. (FB), own about 1 percent of the currency in issue.

Bigger Drills

Prices have been volatile, with the value of one Bitcoin varying from $84 to $266 in the span of one week in April, according to Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the largest exchange that allows Bitcoin to be traded for dollars, euros and other currencies.

More advanced miners use specially designed gadgets that cost as much as 86 Bitcoins, about $10,407, in order to mine the digital currency.

Labcoin, managed by Hong Kong-based ITec-Pro Ltd., also began trading its shares this month in a virtual market. The seller of virtual-mining equipment had a market value of 20,000 Bitcoins, or about $2.4 million. Another company that sold shares is Myminer, which operates “mining farms” in China, where it says the low cost of power to run computers gives it an edge. BTC Garden, a Shenzhen-based Bitcoin miner, withdrew its IPO this month, citing a dispute with an investor.

Hong Kong-incorporated 796 Xchange offers an online stock market for Bitcoin companies, as well as futures, financing and IPO services, all priced in Bitcoins, according to its website.

Regulatory Probe

BTCChina.com, China’s most popular Bitcoin exchange, lets traders to use the payment systems of more established companies. That includes Tencent Holdings Ltd. (700), the nation’s biggest Internet company, and Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the No. 1 e-commerce company. Other Bitcoin trading platforms popular in China include FXBTC.com and Btctrade.com.

China briefly overtook the U.S. in monthly downloads of Bitcoins in May, and now ranks second, according to SourceForge.

In the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Texas man over claims he operated a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme. New York’s Department of Financial Services this month sent subpoenas to 22 digital-currency companies to determine whether new regulations should be adopted, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The lack of regulation, which has drawn scrutiny from U.S. regulators, is why Bitcoins are taking off in China, where the government controls the flow of money overseas and keeps a tight rein on what it views as undesirable behavior.

‘Bitcoin is Freedom’

“The advantage for Chinese users to use Bitcoin is freedom, people can do something without any official authority,” said Patrick Lin, system administrator of Erights.net and owner of about 1,500 Bitcoins. Lin said he’s sticking to the currency itself, rather than IPOs, in part because of weak regulation.

“The Bitcoin world is just like the Wild West -- no law, but opportunity and risk,” he said.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission didn’t respond to a faxed query on whether it’s looking at new rules regarding Bitcoin. So long as it remains small, the industry may continue to fly below the radar screen of a Chinese government more preoccupied with a faltering economy and social stability.

“If the circulation of Bitcoins is still confined to a small circle of people, it won’t be something on the Chinese authority’s priority list,” said Edward Au, co-head of Deloitte China’s public-offering group. “They already have too much to cope with.”

Bitcoin Surpasses $200 Mark, Continuing 'Epic' Rise

Bitcoin, the digital currency that trades outside the control of central banks and international borders, reached new heights Tuesday, surpassing the $200 mark for the first time. That level comes just five days after bitcoin approached $150, a development that Mt.Gox, the largest exchange service for the currency, deemed to be "epic."

Bitcoin's rise has been sharp. It was only two months ago that exchange rates put a single bitcoin's value at around $20.

Because the digital currency's new gains have coincided with deep economic uncertainty in Cyprus, Spain, and elsewhere, some have suggested that a "bubble" was being created. As fears over inflation and even steep withdrawal fees rose, experts said, so did bitcoin. And if those fears waned, so would the currency's value.

But Jon Matonis of the Bitcoin Foundation tells Der Spiegel that he doesn't believe the connection is as direct as people think.

"Most transactions are still coming from affluent regions, like the United States and Northern Europe," he says. "What we are seeing is not a Cyprus bubble."

At Mt.Gox, which says it conducts more than 420,000 bitcoin trades each month, the digital currency didn't just plateau at the $200 mark. It plowed past it Tuesday, hitting a high of $240. As Jason Dorrier at Singularity Hub points out, that volatility is also linked to the currency's small size.

Bitcoin's popularity has also been linked to activities some governments may disapprove of, or seek to tax. NPR reported on its role in online gambling earlier this year. And a New York Times story this week also noted bitcoin's acceptance by Silk Road, a website often "used as a market for controlled substances and narcotics."

Bitcoin's growth has led to changes at Mt.Gox, which announced last month that it would limit the maximum amount of monthly withdrawals to between $50,000 and $500,000, depending on customers' "verified" or "trusted" status.

Whatever the cause, bitcoin's gains have translated into new wealth for people who bought into it since it was created in 2009. The currency is released at a very steady rate — "roughly every 10 minutes 25 new bitcoins come into circulation," as NPR's Steve Henn reported last week.

Its adherents say that regular pace, and the fact that there is only a finite number of bitcoins, make it an attractive alternative to government-backed currencies. Just over half of the 21 million bitcoins in existence have so far been released.

And the currency is gaining wide attention, with TechCrunch explaining how to "mine" bitcoins, and Forbes offering four reasons bitcoin is worth studying. Back in 2011, NPR's Planet Money team acquired some bitcoins, in an experiment that ended when robbers looted the virtual bank that had been holding the currency.

One "miner," Chris Koss, has his entire life savings in bitcoins — something he recently told Steve Henn has brought big gains, as well as worries over how long the boom will continue.

Its steep rise has made some folks wistful for the bitcoins they frittered away on, well, fritters — some cafes and bars in the U.S. and Europe accept bitcoins. And others have felt new pangs of regret for bitcoins they lost when a hard-drive suffered a catastrophic failure.

That's the case for Stefan Thomas, a programmer who tells Der Spiegel, "I once lost 7,000 bitcoins, because I had forgotten to make a backup copy."

If Thomas had held onto those bitcoins, they would be worth around $1.4 million today.

How Bitcoin Will End the Nation State - Jeffrey Tucker

Jeffrey Tucker discussing how Bitcoin Will End the Nation State and currenct fiat monetary system.

What is bitcoin, and why is it suddenly the hottest thing in global currency markets?
 

Bitcoin Plunges By Nearly $30 As Largest Market Suffers Outage

The value of digital currency Bitcoin fell from above $145 to below $117 Wednesday as Mt. Gox, the largest market for trading the digital currency, suffered an outage for approximately an hour.

At the time of writing mid-afternoon Wednesday, the value seems to have leveled out at about $125, a $20 drop for the day.

"Due to high volume trading at the moment, there is a lag in trading and order cancellation," reads a statement from Mt. Gox.

It's not believed that Mt. Gox was the victim of hackers, a scenario feared by some Bitcoin naysayers. More likely, it collapsed under the strain of heavy traffic sparked by a sudden spike in interest in Bitcoin. Mt. Gox's problems, in turn, may have caused Bitcoin's sudden drop in value.

Why has Bitcoin become so popular? One possible explanation is that exploding interest in Bitcoin over the past several days is being driven by economic uncertainty in Europe. Fearful of an earlier proposed European Union plan to partially fund a Cypriot bailout by imposing new taxes on Cypriots' bank deposits, goes the theory, some Cypriots (and Spaniards, for similar reasons) flocked to Bitcoin to attempt an escape from the clutches of potential taxes.

Major media outlets, including The New Yorker and Businessweek, have recently run stories dealing in one way or another with the Europe theory. The media exposure given to Bitcoin over the past few days has likely exacerbated any potential bailout-related interest in Bitcoin, causing even more demand for the currency.

"The value of bitcoins, it turns out, is highly sensitive to media coverage," wrote Reuters' influential financial journalist Felix Salmon in a Wednesday morning blog post wherein he argued Bitcoins are a financial bubble and heightened interest will only cause the burst to come sooner.

" . . .in July 2010, the influential technology site Slashdot posted a short item about bitcoin which sent the price soaring tenfold — from less than a cent to about 7 cents per bitcoin — also in a few days. And a single post on Time.com in April was enough to double the price of Bitcoins in a week, from 80 cents to $1.60. Even the article you’re reading now is appearing now because of the current bubble, and will, at the margin, help to continue to inflate it."


Zachary Seward, Senior Editor at business news website Quartz, also argued Wednesday that sudden interest in Bitcoin is "messing with the market."

"More attention brings more demand, which inclines people who already have bitcoins to hold onto them, expecting their value to rise, which reduces the available supply of bitcoins in the market, driving the price higher, increasing attention, pushing up demand, encouraging still more hoarding," wrote Seward.

Even if Mt. Gox's service interruption wasn't the cause of Bitcoin's drop Wednesday, the sudden fall in their value exemplifies the volatility which some commentators argue make it a risky investment. Would you put your wealth in Bitcoin? Why or why not? Share in the comments.


See Mashable Article

Hot Litecoin (LTC) Goes to the Moon in Huge Weekend Price Spike

Litecoin (LTC) went over $1 US today as it enjoyed an incredible long weekend rally up to $1.15 spiking around 40% and going to .001 vs the Cryptocurrency Giant Bitcoin (BTC), which is currently looking to test the $100 mark.

There was a buzz at BTE-E.com chatbox as litecoin (LTC) broke the $1USD mark and continued to move up to $1.15 before settling in the 1.11-1.12. BTC-E.com is the major site to transact in Litecoin so was a front row seat to witness the big upsurge beyond the $1 physiological barrier

Litecoin has proven to be difficult to get exposure to as many frantically asked how they could purchase the little known p2p currency, converting BTC to LTC seems to be the favoured method so first having BTC would seem to be a requirement.

Litecoin looks to be going skywards given its low price in comparison to Bitcoin but with similar attributes there is seemingly not much too stop it, expect maybe sourcing it for yourself.

By Joseph Gale

Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Targeted by Cyber Attack

Just as Bitcoin explodes beyond the $1 billion mark thanks to Europe’s debt crisis, the emerging virtual currency was dealt a setback this week after a key exchange was hit by a powerful cyber attack that caused delays.

Coupled with other recent technical glitches, this week’s distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox cuts into one of the electronic currency’s greatest selling points: its relative safety compared with deposits in Cyprus.

In a message posted on its official Twitter account, Japan-based Mt. Gox told users Thursday night it was “experiencing a major DDoS” attack. Within hours Mt. Gox said the issue had been resolved.
The exchange didn’t respond to a request for further comment on the DDoS attack.
According to the Mt. Gox website, it is the “world’s most established Bitcoin exchange” and the only multi-currency Bitcoin trading platform.

"This attack demonstrates both the worth of Bitcoin and the value of its business availability. Now there are new risks to both,” said Carl Herberger, vice president of security solutions at Radware (RDWR).
Earlier this week payments startup Dwolla, which is also used to trade Bitcoins, suffered from an apparent DDoS attack as well.

Established in 2009, Bitcoin has emerged as a winner in the controversy surrounding Europe’s decision to “bail in” bank depositors in Cyprus to pay for a rescue of the tiny island country’s outsized banking system.
The virtual currency is built on an open-source software code and unlike traditional currencies is highly decentralized, making it appealing to those worried about the safety of the monetary system. Bitcoin also says its accounts can’t be seized by local authorities, setting it apart from bank deposits in Cyprus.

Underscoring the surge of activity in the virtual currency, one Bitcoin traded as high as $93.06 on Friday, up a whopping 125% from the beginning of March. The value of Bitcoins outstanding has also now surpassed the $1 billion threshold.

Bitcoin “is clearly having a breakthrough moment here, and a deeply surprising one given its novelty and nascent infrastructure,” Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx, wrote in a recent note.
However, Bitcoin has also faced technical glitches, including one on March 12 that caused the currency’s value to briefly tumble 23% before recovering.

“Bitcoin is of course wholly dependent upon the functioning of the Internet,”said  Daniel Friedberg, a financial-services attorney at Seattle law firm Graham & Dunn who has a Bitcoin client base.
“Users of Bitcoin are not used to any ‘down time’ and have grown accustomed to being able to immediately convert the Bitcoin virtual currency into real legal tender, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Any disruption at all creates customer complaints,” he said.

Bitcoin isn’t alone in grappling with cyber attacks. Hacktivists have increasingly set their sets on the U.S. financial system, slowing access to the websites of big banks like J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC) in recent months.

Earlier this week Wells Fargo (WFC), the largest U.S. bank by market capitalization, acknowledged its consumer banking website was the victim of a DDoS attack.


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Cyprus Crisis Boosting Unique Currency, the Bitcoin

Currency markets are keeping close track of Cyprus' banking crisis and are braced for possible repercussions, but one currency has thrived in the chaos and zoomed in value -- Bitcoins. A Bitcoin is a digital currency that is traded electronically and does not need government backing. Despite its name, there is no coin to put in your pocket.

 Two weeks ago, one Bitcoin was worth $40, then a record high. Today, it's worth $72, largely because of "incremental interest" from euro and Russian ruble holders who are terrified by the situation in Cyprus, said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group, a financial technology company in Manhattan.

"The best-performing currency year-to-date has no home country, no central banker and no physical scrip," Colas said. The Bitcoin is "clearly having a breakthrough moment here, and a deeply surprising one given its novelty and nascent infrastructure," he said. The Bitcoin reportedly was invented by a man who called himself Satoshi Nakamoto, and who may -- or may not -- have been a 23-year-old graduate student in cryptography at Trinity College in Dublin. He wanted people to be able to exchange money electronically and securely without a third party's involvement.

Although there are no physical coins, Walmart sells Bitcoin gift cards, and as Salon noted, WordPress and Reddit take payments in Bitcoin. Charlie Shrem, the CEO of BitInstant, a payment processor for Bitcoin exchanges and other merchants, thinks the Bitcoin is the wave of the future. "Let's say you have someone in Cyprus who badly needs money," Shrem said. "How are you going to get that person money? There's not enough cash going around. Bitcoin can and will be used as a barter, or maybe a collateral tool." He believes that people will first use Bitcoin "for its better uses" like remittance, wire transfers, donations and micropayments, before it reaches a mainstream audience.

"Imagine being able to pay five cents to read an article online instead of these ridiculous pay walls that require expensive monthly subscriptions," he said. "People will start reading the news again. Right now, you can't do that. Try sending five cents over the Internet." But Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the former chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, was unimpressed. "It's a gimmick," she said.

"The Bitcoin would never work in Cyprus because Cyprus is full of insolvent loans. Putting in different currency is not going to help. They would ideally have their own currency. Whether it's digital or dollars, they need to separate from the euro and put in economic currency that will attract more investment." Colas was also hesitant about the Bitcoin's future. "Whether it succeeds or fails is hard to predict," Colas said. "We're clearly in uncharted waters. But one thing is clear: Bitcoin is one more lens with which to assess the ongoing European financial crisis."

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What Is Bitcoin? Tom Woods Talks to Erik Voorhees

What Is Bitcoin? Tom Woods Talks to Erik Voorhees

Filling in as host of the Peter Schiff Show, bestselling author Tom Woods interviews Erik Voorhees of BitInstant about Bitcoin, and takes listener calls. Visit these sites:

http://www.WeUseCoins.org
http://www.BitInstant.com

Bitcoin Value Reaches An All-Time High Compared To The Dollar

Digital currency used in place of the dollar isn't exactly a new concept, especially online.

Indeed, Microsoft has used its own points as a sort of alternate currency for Xbox 360 buyers for a number of years, while a number of cross-platform games following the same strategy for points and auction houses.

One of the most popular forms of alternate digital currency introduced in recent years is known as Bitcoin. The company has been in the news in recent months with hackers reportedly making off with about $250,000 worth of digital currency in September of last year.

More recently, Mega announced that it would be taking Bitcoin as a form of payment.

Interestingly, this week Bitcoin hit an all-time high in terms of value compared to the US dollar. Indeed, the exchange rate for the virtual currency and the US dollar climbed past $32 for the first time ever. The previous all-time high was hit in June of 2011 when the exchange rate was set at $31.9099 for the US dollar.

At its lowest point, the exchange rate was under two dollars in 2011 but the value of Bitcoin has risen over the last several months as the currency makes its way to new markets.

Despite the $250,000 virtual money heist last year, Bitcoin has remained relatively secure. Other than Mega, a number of other major websites also accept the virtual currency for payment, including Reddit and Wordpress.com.

Last year a French bank also received clearance to become a Bitcoin exchange - helping to broaden the availability for the virtual currency. To be sure, the bank became certified soon after the total circulation for the virtual currency hit the 2.5 million mark.

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NEW Bitcoin Mining Hardware: Bitforce SC 1,500 GH/s Bitcoin Miner from Butterflylabs

1,500 GH/s Bitcoin Miner

Size: 285.75 mm x 406.40 mm x 482.6 mm
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The Mini Rig comes ready with a touch panel (Nexus 7) control screen with built in host.

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Order up to 4 Mini Rigs and pay the same standard, flat shipping price.

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The Two Bitcoin Conferences of 2013

After the first two successful Bitcoin conferences that took place in Prague in 2011 and London in 2012, it has been announced that there will in fact be two Bitcoin conferences taking place in 2013. The first, entitled “The Future of Payments”, will take place in San Jose, California on May 17-19, and the second, named “unSYSTEM”, will happen in Vienna on 1-3 November.

The two conferences will be in a similar format to those run in 2011 and 2012; they will both take up a weekend, feature a number of speakers making presentations on topics either related to Bitcoin or of interest to the Bitcoin community, as well as offer opportunities for speakers and attendees to interact; for the curious, schedules for the previous two conferences can be found here and here, and videos of individual presentations are also available from 2011 and 2012.

The 2012 conference, organized largely by Bitcoin activist Amir Taaki, saw a significant shift in the range of topics discussed from that in 2011, featuring many speakers who were outside of the Bitcoin community entirely; free software advocate Richard Stallman, the pro-free speech Icelandic Modern Media Initiative’s Brigitta Jonsdottir, the free culture activist Jaromil and the leader of the 3D gun printing project Defense Distributed, Cody Wilson, were all among the speakers. A considerable number of Bitcoin developers and Bitcoin business owners, as well as others in the payments industry, but political activism was nevertheless a dominant message.

This time, the two conferences have radically different themes. For the 2013 conference in San Jose, the Bitcoin Foundation is pushing back in the direction of a conference organized around Bitcoin specifically and the more pragmatic issues that Bitcoin is trying to solve; the four main topics listed on the website are Bitcoin technology, Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin business and regulatory issues. Unfortunately, no list of speakers is yet given; the Bitcoin Foundation is still in the process of finding people to speak.

The unSYSTEM conference in Vienna, on the other hand, is pushing even further in the direction of activism. Of the sixteen speakers now listed on the site, only three are notable purely because of their work around Bitcoin, and the majority have nothing to do with the currency. Among these are Mitch Altman, inventor of the “TV-B-Gone” universal remote, free culture activist Nina Paley, democratic education pioneer Luis Henrique Fagundes and the Russian activist group Voina (“War”).

Richard Stallman, Brigitta Jonsdottir, Cody Wilson, Jaromil and Max Keiser, who were all present at the London Bitcoin conference in 2012, are back, as well as Amir Taaki, who is organizing the unSYSTEM conference as well. Amir Taaki is known for his work on Bitcoin development, but has also participated in more direct forms of political activism, including a recent high-profile event in which he and a number of other activists squatted an exclusive property in central London. Also from the Bitcoin community Joerg Platzer, owner of Room77, the first restaurant to accept Bitcoin in Berlin, and now the leader of a project to get a large number of restaurants in Berlin to accept Bitcoin, will be attending.

A particularly notable upcoming speaker is the Silk Road, a black market offering thousands of illegal drugs using Tor and Bitcoin for anonymity. The idea of an illegal organization speaking at an above-ground conference seems counter-intuitive, but it can be done.

The Earth Liberation Front, an eco-terrorist group, has an above-ground “press office” which is simply a media organization that reports on the ELF’s activities. The Silk Road may similarly have a liaison, or perhaps they may choose to speak by videoconference; Taaki writes that Dread Pirate Roberts confirmed Silk Road’s attendance, but details have not yet been decided.

On the whole, the split into two conferences is arguably a positive one for Bitcoin. There are many in the Bitcoin community who are intent on pursuing the success that Bitcoin reached at the end of 2012 with WordPress accepting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Central working with a licensed payment services provider in France, and attempting to get Bitcoin noticed, and accepted, by even more prominent individuals and organizations in the world of finance and payments.

To many of them, associating Bitcoin with political radicalism, particularly the sort promoted by Cody Wilson and especially the Silk Road, serves only to marginalize the currency. Others, however, are political activists first and Bitcoin users second, and want to see more of what we saw in London in 2012. Almost certainly no one will agree with the entirety of what is spoken at the conference; opinion on controversial issues like guns and economic regulation vary widely even within the sort of community that unSYSTEM is seeking to attract, and some issues may even see both sides presented outright. However, as a meeting of minds the conference will be an event from which all sides can benefit by participating.

Practical information on attending both conferences has been posted, for the San Jose conference here and the unSYSTEM conference here. Both conferences are expecting a larger number of attendees than either of the conferences that took place in 2011 and 2012, and meeting the faces behind the most popular projects and services in the Bitcoin community has always been a key attraction of these events. Everyone is encouraged to attend, and those who have something that they want to present should contact the Bitcoin foundation here or unSYSTEM at their email address. Hopefully, these two conferences will be the greatest Bitcoin conferences yet!

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23-Year-Old Releases New Chips That 'Mine' Bitcoins 50 Times Faster

There's an entire industry of Bitcoin miners out there, people that set up specialized computer rigs to run 24 hours a day to mine the digital currency. Thanks to a 23-year-old kid from Brooklyn, this cottage industry is about to change. Yifu Guo, a digital media student on hiatus from NYU-Poly, has released the first batch of ASICs, which are chips custom-built to do one thing: mine Bitcoins.

These ASICs are capable of mining Bitcoins at a far higher rate than is possible with common computer equipment — Guo's design, called the Avalon V1, can mine Bitcoins about 50 times faster than a high-end rig, and offers a much more attractive price-to-performance ratio. ASICs also consume much less power than GPU-based machines, but they don't give miners the option to play the most demanding PC games.

Being the first company to get this new technology into customers' hands is big news in the Bitcoin community, where early adopters consistently reap a lion's share of the available virtual profit. Given the current Bitcoin market, where prices change everyday, the Bitcoin Foundation estimates that one of Guo's new chips will initially net buyers anywhere between $200 to $300 in Bitcoins per day. However, that reward will quickly diminsh as the number of ASICs in use grows, since the crytographic "difficulty" of mining increases proportionally in order to prevent inflation.

The initial round of pre-orders is being delivered throughout the month, and Guo hopes to have the next round available to ship shortly after March 5th. The second batch of Avalon V1s is available to order now for $1,499, and the company has also made a $499 upgrade module available that adds around 25 percent more mining power to existing units. Guo's main competitor, Butterfly Labs, is also preparing to deliver its comparable ASICs later this month, but chip fabrication problems have caused the company a number of delays.

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