Now Pay Cash at UK Stores

You Can Now Pay Cash For Bitcoin at 28,000 UK Stores

Bitcoiners can now pay cash for bitcoins at 28,000 shops across the UK, thanks to a new service set up by ZipZap.

The service enables people to head to their nearest ZipZap payment location, hand over cash and see bitcoins deposited in their wallets almost instantly.

Currently available via Bittylicious, BuyBitcoin.sg and BIPS Market, the service will go live with ANXBTC and ANXPRO next week, followed by Kraken, CoinMKT and BTCX.se.

Customers simply have to log into their accounts with one of these companies and select the cash payment option, they then choose the amount of bitcoins they want to purchase and head to their local ZipZap payment location to complete the transaction.

Thousands of independent local shops are registered as ZipZap locations, as are Spar, Asda, Tesco Express branches and many other stores across the country.

The minimum a user can choose to spend is £10 and the maximum per transaction is £300, but up to four transactions can be completed per customer, per day.

Lasse Birk Olesen, founder and CEO of BuyBitcoin.sg, said: “We are very excited to present the easiest and fastest way to buy bitcoins in United Kingdom! This is a key piece of infrastructure that allows bitcoin to grow further in the UK.”

He went on to say that, after a customer pays in cash, their bitcoins are delivered “within minutes”, adding:

“No more waiting for days for bank transfers – this is as fast as it gets and makes bitcoin more attractive.”

Marc Warne, CEO of Bittylicious, is equally excited by the new service he is able to offer his customers.

“This is a really neat way for people in the UK to get their hands on bitcoins,” he said.

Testing the service

I tested out the service using Bittylicious. I have to admit, I was a bit sceptical at first – why would I bother going through the effort of visiting a shop to buy bitcoins when I could do it all online? However, I found the whole process incredibly simple, and I can see why some people would prefer it and would enjoy the novelty of handing over physical cash for digital currency.

While Bittylicious currently enables unregistered users to buy small amounts of bitcoins via bank transfer and Barclays Pingit, it doesn’t allow them to use the cash payment service. This means you have to register with the company and submit identity documents (to comply with anti-money-laundering and know-your-customer rules).

Warne told me ID verification on Bittylicious currently takes 12 hours, on average, but the company is working on reducing this over the course of the next few days.

I’m already registered and verified with Bittylicious, so I just logged in, then the home page displayed the “Cash Payment” option.

After entering my bitcoin wallet address and selecting the amount in BTC or GBP I wanted to purchase, I was told I had 30 minutes to choose my payment location and confirm the trade.

I entered my postcode to find my nearest ZipZap payment location and found there were 13 shops for me to choose from within a radius of around 0.6 miles (bear in mind the CoinDesk office is in central London).

After selecting my most convenient shop, I hit the “I am ready to pay” button and was provided with a PDF document to print. This features all the order details, the address and a map of my chosen payment centre, plus the barcode required by the shopkeeper.

Bittylicious gives you a leisurely two hours to complete the payment and the PDF payment slip details the time by which the transaction must be finalised.

Once in the shop, I handed over the payment slip to the newsagent, he scanned the barcode, I handed over the cash, he printed a receipt and that was that. (You don’t actually have to print the payment slip – you can just bring the barcode up on your smartphone and have the shopkeeper scan it straight from there.)

Precisely eight minutes later, the BTC arrived in my bitcoin wallet.

The verdict

Being able to pay cash over the counter for bitcoin was pretty cool – experiencing the ultimate transition from old money to new money. But aside from that, I’m not entirely sure what the major benefits are for someone like me, who has a bank account and can use a fast bank transfer to receive their bitcoins quickly and easily, without having to venture into the great outdoors.

It’s also worth bearing in mind you pay a premium to use this service. At the time of writing, the exchange rate displayed on Bittylicious for cash payments was £537.80 per bitcoin, which is quite a bit higher than the £520 per bitcoin if paying via bank transfer, and greater still than the £517.18 displayed on the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index at the time.

Some say they are attracted to the service as it allows consumers to remain anonymous, because their bank accounts aren’t involved. However, given that the service can’t be used without first registering with one of the bitcoin companies listed above, customers don’t actually remain completely anonymous.

Warne said that, regardless, the service will appeal to those who want to buy bitcoins without involving their bank in any way.

He said: ”It’s not really about getting bitcoins anonymously. It’s more about getting them without needing to rely on any other institutions.”

He added:

“Some people don’t have bank accounts, have unsuitable bank accounts or simply don’t want to associate their bank account with bitcoins, so this is perfect for them.”

According to research by Social Finance, more than 1.5 million adults in the UK are unbanked (do not have access to a transactional bank account), so I can see that there is a sector of society that would find this service extremely useful.

If/when it becomes available in countries where the majority of the population is unbanked, I can see the service really starting to take off.

Upcoming developments

Currently the barcodes featured on the payment slips are single use only, however, ZipZap is working on creating a system that will produce a reusable barcode. This will enable customers to ‘top up’ their bitcoin wallet with funds without having to go online each time to confirm their payment.

“A lot of people are put off investing in or purchasing bitcoin as they see the process as too complicated. ZipZap aims to change this, making it easier and faster for people to swap their money for bitcoins,” said Eric Benz, VP of business development at ZipZap.

He went on to say his company aims to roll out the cash-for-bitcoins service globally, though ZipZap wouldn’t confirm which territories will be next, or when.

The company is also looking to expand its service so that people can exchange their funds the other way around, swapping their bitcoins for cash over the counter.

As for developments set to take place specifically here in the UK, Warne (of Bittylicious) hinted that the service could soon also be available for altcoins, such as litecoin and peercoin.

“Although not available yet, there’s no reason why the altcoins on Bittylicious shouldn’t be available for cash too in the near future,” he explained.

What do you make of the cash-for-bitcoins service? Would you use it? Let us know in the comments.

Cash image via Flickr.

Post Source: http://www.coindesk.com/can-now-pay-cash-bitcoin-28000-uk-stores/

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Apple Kills Last Bitcoin App

Bitcoin wallets are getting blocked from the App Store

Apple removed the last remaining app used to exchange the digital currency Bitcoin from its App Store on Wednesday.

Blockchain, the bitcoin wallet app, said on its blog that it had no prior warning it would be barred from the store or prompting it to make changes to that app. It said Apple’s only explanation was “unresolved issues.”

Other bitcoin-related apps like Coinbase, Gliph and CoinJar have also been removed from the store. While Bitcoin isn’t illegal, it’s also not recognized as legal currency by governments, TechCrunch notes. This could conflict with section 22.1 of the App Store’s review guidelines, which states that “apps must comply with all legal requirements in any location where they are made available to users. It is the developer’s obligation to understand and conform to all local laws.”

Google’s Android platform still allows developers to create and maintain bitcoin wallet apps.

Source: http://business.time.com/2014/02/06/apple-bitcoin-blockchain-app-store/

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Wisconsin man loses $150,000 in international bitcoin scam

By Christena T. O'Brien

The Leader-Telegram

An Eau Claire man has reported losing more than $150,000 in an international Internet scam using a different kind of money.

Jamie Russell, a 34-year-old software engineer who lives in Eau Claire, first invested in bitcoin -- digital currency exchanged through a peer-to-peer network -- in August 2012. He purchased hundreds of bitcoins in their infancy for $5 per coin. Since then the currency has increased in value to more than $800 apiece.

Concerned about the security of his digital bitcoins, Russell agreed to digitally submit 201.7 bitcoins to a man in the United Kingdom for 190 physical bitcoins, or tokens with a bitcoin digital key hidden behind a tamper-proof strip. (Russell actually has some of the physical currency, which he keeps in a safe place outside his home.)

Between Dec. 9 and 11, Russell transmitted digital bitcoins worth $151,275 to the digital wallet of a man who identified himself as David Williamson, according to an Eau Claire police report. The men met through the website bitcointalk.org and had been in contact for more than a year, and Russell came to trust Williamson.

Williamson provided Russell with two shipping tracking numbers and indicated the physical coins were en route to his home in Eau Claire. But they never arrived, prompting Russell to contact Williamson, who provided excuses and eventually cut off all communication.

Russell, who had completed a number of bitcoin transactions -- but none with Williamson -- prior to this with no problems, posted the information online on bitcointalk.org and subsequently learned that as many as a dozen other users also had been defrauded by Williamson.

"I guess criminals flock to places that are fairly new," said Russell, noting Williamson had attempted to get him to exchange even more of his digital bitcoins for the physical tokens. "It's very unfortunate."

Russell reported the fraud to UK officials, who told him he also needed to file a complaint with local police. He then reported the scam to an Eau Claire police officer on Dec. 29.

"It was pretty devastating to have this happen," said Russell, who remains a proponent of the bitcoin. "It still makes me sick to say the amount of money that was lost."

Even with the theft, Russell, who got into bitcoins as a high-risk, speculative investment, said he's still money ahead of where he was before he invested in the virtual money.

Still, he's not taking the loss lightly.

"My mistake was paying money (in the form of the digital bitcoins) first, which exposed me to more risk," he said.

Before sending money in any form to someone or some business overseas, Eau Claire police Lt. Derek Thomas advises people to research the intended recipient.

"These people overseas try to develop a rapport with people in the U.S., ... and once they get the money, they run," Thomas said. And "when a crime occurs overseas, it's very difficult for us to follow up."

Russell, who reads bitcoin articles daily, makes no apologies for his actions.

"Everything I've done in the bitcoin realm has been with my eyes wide-open," he said.

Even though Williamson lives in another country, Russell remains "expectant that he is going to be prosecuted," he said. However, "I'm not expectant that I'm going to get any money out of him."

Post Source: http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_25057486/wisconsin-man-loses-150-000-international-bitcoin-scam

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Marc Andreessen Predicts Bitcoin Will Change Chip Design Forever

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen believes digital currencies could change the way processors are designed.

Andreessen doesn’t exactly need an introduction. An avid bitcoin advocate, he tends to be quite outspoken – putting his money where his mouth is through investment firm Andreessen Horowitz.

Turning data centres into mining rigs

Speaking at the Open Compute Summit last week, Andreessen said that mining is at the heart of bitcoin, as it handles all computation needed to maintain the trust network, reports TechWeek Europe. He added:

“The press reports on mining as a waste of time, but in reality it’s all the proof of work computation that makes a distributed trust network work.”

Andreessen added that cryptocurrency mining is a “very big thing” and that we are still in the very early stages of it. This is where Andreessen sees an opportunity for chipmakers.

Custom mining chips are nothing new, but few people expected the rise of ASICs to transform the mining scene in such a short time. Andreessen believes custom chips will dominate mining for quite a while, but things could take another unexpected turn.

Andreessen told the gathering that his company has already received pitches for bitcoin optimised data centres. However, it is unclear what such pitches would entail in terms of hardware.

Using standardised server racks to add a bit of mining power to existing data centres is one option, as it would essentially add a few ASICs to a huge data centre.

Another farfetched scenario would be the emergence of custom chips that can deal with standard workloads and mining. In theory, this could be done by adding specialized circuits to x86- or ARM-based server parts, but it is simply not practical for the time being, either on-die or in the same chip package.

Opportunities and pitfalls

Although Andreessen is rather optimistic, there are quite a few problems with bitcoin mining hardware that may keep it out of data centres for a while. Economies of scale are the most obvious challenge, the sheer pace of development is another.

Using existing infrastructure for mining is a tantalizing prospect, but with huge performance gains offered by every new generation of ASICs, deploying bitcoin mining hardware in a server setting would be a rather risky investment.

Once the hardware goes out of date, it would practically become a useless drain.Chipmakers go to great lengths to shave off a few watts from their server processors and to increase their life cycle by making them future proof, thus reducing the total cost of ownership. Adding bitcoin mining features to them could have the exact opposite effect.

In addition, the market for bitcoin mining hardware remains limited. Wedbush Securities estimates that the total market for bitcoin mining hardware stood at $200m in 2013.

It isn’t a small market, until you compare it to overall semiconductor sales. To put things into perspective, Gartner puts the revenue generated in the server space in 2013 at more than $12bn a quarter.

Image Credit: Fortune Live Media / Flickr

Post Source: http://www.coindesk.com/marc-andreessen-bitcoin-change-chip-design-forever/

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Luxury Yacht Service Makes its First Bitcoin Booking

Luxury yacht service The Advantaged Yacht Charter and Sales in Miami Beach has received its first booking paid for in bitcoin.

The company officially began accepting bitcoin in October last year, but only made its first booking, paid for with the digital currency, last week.

The company has a total of 26 boats in Miami Beach which it rents out, starting from $1,200 for four hours up to $18,000 for the most extravagant packages. Each one comes complete with a captain, a stewardess and a fruit and cheese platter.

Their first bitcoin deal came about after Tony Gallippi, owner of payment processorBitPay gave the company a shout out during his opening speech at the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami.

Jessica Londono, co-owner of The Advantaged Yacht Charter and Sales in Miami Beach, was at the conference, as was her first bitcoin client. She explained:

“[Gallippi] just literally said a small little blurb about us, then my client went on and Googled me, saw the website, saw we accept bitcoin and then called me.”

Londono was able to effortlessly process the transaction for her client’s $2,500 charter using BitPay.

“It was literally the easiest transaction I’ve ever done,” she said. “I’ve co-owned the company for about nine years and this transaction took less than one minute.”

Londono sent her client an email with the contract for his charter and the BitPay address. “It’s so much easier than any credit card transaction I’ve ever done,” she added.

Nominal charges

As well as being a much quicker process, accepting bitcoin is also cheaper for vendors, as payment processors such as BitPay require a nominal charge in comparison to credit card charges. Londono said:

“American Express charges about 3.5%, which we lose out of our profits. Bitcoin is essentially free, depending on what service you use.”

Using bitcoin also makes the booking process simpler for Londono’s clients.

Londono first got into bitcoin in March 2012 through her “Apple genius husband”. Now her company, which also deals in yacht sales, is in the process of completing its first boat sale in bitcoin.

She stresses bitcoin is not simply a get-rich-quick scheme for her; it’s about exposure. Going to networking events like the Miami conference has been an opportunity to meet other eager people within the bitcoin community.

“I go to networking events on a daily basis trying to promote my brand, but it was so refreshing to go somewhere where every single person was so happy to talk to you and explain what they do,” she said.

“Everyone’s so excited about bitcoin that it’s just a pleasure to go ahead and get more involved and have more people be part of the bitcoin community.”

She hopes more vendors in South Florida will start to accept bitcoin payments soon.

“We have so many people with foreign currency that this would be an easy way to just unify us all.”

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/luxury-yacht-service-makes-first-bitcoin-booking/

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Mint personal finance tool embraces Bitcoin, but as an investment - not cash

Las Vegas may not be interested in letting gamblers use Bitcoin, but in yet another sign that the crypto currency is edging into the mainstream, Mint.com now lets you track your Bitcoin wallet. The new feature for the online personal finance tracker integrates exclusively with Coinbase—a popular web-based Bitcoin wallet hosting service.

Mint won’t treat Coinbase wallets as cash, the way it does savings and checking accounts from banks. Instead, Bitcoin is treated as an investment account, sitting alongside mutual funds and stocks.

A Mint user is more Bitcoins as a payment method than other "investments," but Bitcoin’s tendency for wild fluctuation makes it more at home among stocks and bonds. A single Bitcoin hovered around $20 last February and is now worth nearly $800, according toCoinbase.

Coinbase showing the per-Bitcoin price over the past months: That sure is a volatile "currency." 

Mint’s acceptance of Bitcoin as a legitimate part of a person’s financial picture may not have the same impact as major retailers like TigerDirect and Overstock accepting the digital currency. Nevertheless, with more than 14 million users, Mint’s integration is another positive step for wider acceptance of Bitcoin.

“We felt like it was something we couldn’t ignore anymore,” Mint product manager Vince Maniago recently told Venture Beat. “And this is a good time to go out and support the currency as it becomes more legitimate.”

Mint's new Bitcoin integration. (Click to enlarge.)

Countries around the world are split on how to handle Bitcoin. In August, Germany decided to recognize Bitcoin as a financial instrument. China has already banned the crypto currency as has Thailand. More recently, the Canadian government appeared to give Bitcoin the cold shoulder—althoughBitcoin entrepreneurs up north don’t appear to be discouraged by the government’s position.

In the U.S., Washington is still mulling how to deal with Bitcoin , while states such as New York are also grappling with the issue of regulating Bitcoin.

For now, however, Bitcoin remains something of an untamed wilderness where finance and technology meet.

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Legal Online Gambling is Next Major Bitcoin Market

The international online gambling industry is an estimated $30bn market, and growing. More importantly for Bitcoin, it’s a global market that depends on fast, irreversible payments.

Just like a ordinary casino chip in any land-based casino, digital bitcoin provides privacy, immediacy, and payment finality. Unlike most typical consumer purchases (where returns and chargebacks are usually legitimate), a wager is a one-way transaction. Of course, you may be dissatisfied with the outcome, but that does not justify a reimbursement. The online gambling industry has struggled with this fact for years.

Plagued by chargebacks and fraudulent transactions, specialized payment methods and payment companies have sprouted up around the online casino world to address the problem of payment finality.

iGaming and bitcoin

For the first time ever, the world’s largest and most comprehensive trade event in gaming, ICE Totally Gaming 2014, will feature a half-day seminar on bitcoin in the iGaming environment on 4h February. The London-based conference represents every gambling sector: betting, bingo, casino, lottery, mobile, online, and social gaming.

“We are now witnessing the long-awaited arrival of mainstream online casinos into the bitcoin universe.”

Organized by Gran Via’s Willem van Oort, the seminar features two extraordinary panels: ‘Regulatory Aspects’ and ‘Bitcoin’s Competitive Edge’. I will also be speaking on the evolution and future of bitcoin as a new monetary unit.

Moderated by iGaming attorney David Gzesh, the regulatory panel will assess the compliance challenges in dealing with bitcoin payment processing applications, including currency conversion, reduced transaction costs, payment finality, Know Your Customer rules, and coin management techniques.

Panelists include; Stuart Hoegner, managing director at Gaming Counsel PC; Steve Beauregard, CEO and founder ofGoCoin; and Michael Ellen, director of licensing and strategy at Alderney Gambling Control Commission.

The second panel of the day focuses on the competitive advantages offered by bitcoin in the iGaming industry and will explore potential for new games, new jurisdictional regions, and unique investment opportunities on the horizon.

Stellar panelists include; Esteban van Goor, indirect tax lawyer at PwC; Ivan Montik, CEO and founder of Softswiss; Erik Voorhees, founder of SatoshiDice; Brock Pierce, managing director at Clearstone Global Gaming Fund; Jiten Melwani, founder of Bitgame Labs; and Gabriel Sukenik, director at Coinapult.

Into the mainstream

We are now witnessing the long-awaited arrival of mainstream online casinos and betting establishments into the bitcoin universe. This is the beginning of the second-generation bitcoin gambling sites – the first generation exemplified by sites like SatoshiDice, BitZino, and Seals With Clubs.

CoinDesk reported on Wednesday that Malta-registered casino Vera&John has become the first of the major licensed and regulated online casinos to accept bitcoin deposits. The gaming operator accepts inbound customer payments which are then processed and converted into euros via Panama-based Coinapult service.

Following a trend common among existing online poker sites like WinPoker, Vera&John will only permit wagering in national currency units. The strategy of utilizing bitcoin only as a customer payment transfer mechanism eliminates the exchange rate risk for the operator and the player.

Alternatively, if the player uses bitcoin for deposit, betting, and withdrawal, then the exchange rate risk stays with the player. Examples of that approach include CloudBet and CoinBet.

Sports betting site Cloudbet claims to have revolutionized the online betting experience by introducing the world’s most advanced bitcoin betting platform accessible from desktop and mobile devices. Users can browse an intuitive, elegant site to place immediate and discreet bets on any world event – at zero fees.

CloudBet currently deploys 100% offline cold storage for all bitcoin assets and the site has received excellent reviews.

In addition, Costa Rica-registered CoinBet offers casino gaming, poker, and sports betting all under a simple email registration with password. CoinBet claims to be the first legitimate, licensed entity to re-enter the real money online gambling space since Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker all had their sites shut down by the US Department of Justice in April 2011. However, that particular claim may actually go to Costa Rica-registered Infiniti Poker.

Unlike other regulated gambling jurisdictions issuing licenses, Costa Rica does not require operators to obtain and verify the identity of its players. On the policy of accepting US players, John Bauer, senior vice president of gaming at CoinBet, proudly emphasized:

“Look, to take away a person’s fundamental right to spend their money on whatever they choose is wrong, unconstitutional, and without question, an un-American thing to do.”

He continued: “We are not here to engage in a legal debate, we are here to serve up the very first legitimate workaround to the complex online gambling laws in this US market. We are returning to Americans their freedom to choose and giving them their power back!”

Internet gambling in the US operates in a legal grey area. Other gaming operators in the near future may come to appreciate Bauer’s statement because the US jurisdiction has yet to see a clarifying test case in the matter of bitcoin-only wagering without conversion.

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/legal-online-gambling-next-major-bitcoin-market/

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Mint.com will see your bitcoins now

• BY BRIAN FUNG

(btckeychain)

If you're one of the millions of people who use Mint, you know the personal finance tool does an effective job at tracking your credit card spending, bank account balances and investment performance. But now Mint is adding support for another type of financial instrument: Bitcoin.

Mint has reached an agreement with one of the Bitcoin market's most popular virtual wallet companies, Coinbase. Now that the two are linked, users who own bitcoins can add the alternative currency to their dashboard and track the value of their holdings, just like any other investment, according to VentureBeat.

Coinbase shows up on the tool as a line item beneath your 401(k), IRA and related accounts, but it might disappoint Bitcoin purists — as it calculates your stash as dollars.

The deal brings Bitcoin one step closer to Wall Street as another project — a bid to create the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund — steadily advances. Experts believe both will bring greater stability to the currency, making it a more viable platform.

Meanwhile, other countries have made warnings about the currency, or even issuedoutright bans against integrating it into the banking system. It's unclear whether these countries' regulatory authorities might reconsider their stance if Bitcoin becomes more widely accepted.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/30/mint-com-will-see-your-bitcoins-now/

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