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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Meltdown – The First Comic Shop To Take Bitcoin

Los Angeles’ Meltdown Comics became the first bricks’n'mortar comic shop to officially accept the digital currency Bitcoin as a method of payment.

The lucky purchaser was Bleeding Cool photographer (and so much more) Pinguino Kolb. She writes,

I used Blockchain on my iphone to buy Daniel Clowes’s Death Ray book. Francisco rang up the order on a tablet using BitPay. It was a smooth transaction, and a bit later I bought some stuff from his employee, who was super psyched to take a bitcoin order. I got a Black Business Protection Lucky Cat vinyl figure, Adventure Time Mathematical Vol 3, and some strawberry Yan Yan. That also went seamlessly.

And as for future reasons to pay with Bitcoin, manager Francisco said,

We’ll be the only comic book shop accepting Bitcoin. Down the line Bitcoin customers will start receiving special discounts, offers, swag, online shop, events, and more.;

 Post Source: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/02/04/meltdown-the-first-comic-shop-to-take-bitcoin/

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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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Australian Legal Firm to Accept Bitcoin

By IndiaTimes | February 3, 2014, 4:59 pm IST

WASHINGTON: LegalVision, an Australian legal service provider has reportedly become the first legal organization to allow its customers to pay for services with Bitcoin.

A decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin can be used by users to transfer money on the internet sans the involvement of bank, allowing them to transact with each other directly.

Lachlan McKnight, LegalVision chief executive said that he was interested in using the crypto-currency because it fitted with the online firm's emphasis on efficiency and innovation, PCWorld has reported.

McKnight said that it made perfect sense for the fraternity to start using digital currency as it provided online legal advice and documents.

Source: http://www.indiatimes.com/technology/enterprise/australian-legal-firm-to-accept-bitcoin-126529.html

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These four charts suggest that Bitcoin will stabilize in the future

In recent weeks, something interesting has happened to the price of bitcoins: It hasn't changed very much. In December, Bitcoin prices gyrated wildly, but since the start of the year it's gradually gotten less volatile.

Bitcoin's declining volatility is part of a recurring cycle the Bitcoin economy has experienced repeatedly over the past three years. It starts when a wave of publicity attracts new Bitcoin speculators and pushes Bitcoin prices to unprecedented highs. That creates an unsustainable price bubble. The bubble pops, leading to plummeting prices and high volatility. But then the price gradually stabilizes, settling on a "new normal" price.

This pattern suggests that the extreme price volatility that has bedeviled Bitcoin since its inception is likely to prove a temporary phenomenon. Bitcoin prices become volatile when a wave of media attention attracts a swarm of new users. As the Bitcoin economy grows and matures, these growing pains will become less frequent and less severe.z

Mainstream media coverage of Bitcoin began in April 2011, at a time when one Bitcoin went for around $0.75. The chart above shows that by June 2011, Bitcoin's price had risen 40-fold to more than $30. Then it crashed, falling below $2 in November before stabilizing at around $5 in early 2012.

Notice that after the initial boom and bust, Bitcoin's price gradually got more stable. In January and February of 2012, Bitcoin's price ranged from $3.87 to $7.22— a significant range but not the wild fluctuations of the previous year. In March, April, and May, the price stayed between $4.30 and $5.48.

In the second half of 2012, the pattern repeated itself, albeit on a smaller scale. In June, Bitcoin prices began to rise rapidly, reaching a high of $15.40 on Aug. 13. Then the currency promptly crashed, falling to a low of $7.58 before stabilizing around $13.50 in December 2012.

The pattern repeated itself yet again in the first three quarters of 2013. From $13.50 at the start of the year, Bitcoin's value soared to $266, then crashed to $50 later that same month. As summer turned to fall, the price of one Bitcoin had stabilized around $130.

Finally, here's a chart of Bitcoin prices over the last four months. The price rose from $130 to $1,242, then crashed to $455 before stabilizing around $900.

The cycle

Each of these four periods involves the same basic pattern:

1. Bitcoin gets a wave of positive press. This attracts new Bitcoin users who begin buying Bitcoins. The process becomes self-perpetuating: new users generate higher prices, which generates more press coverage, which attracts new users.

2. The bubble pops, usually triggered by some kind of bad news. Many of the Bitcoin newbies who had flooded into the market in the preceding weeks panic. That kicks off a feedback loop of its own: falling prices generate more panic selling, which pushes the price down even more.

3. Eventually, everyone who is inclined to panic-sell has done so, and the price bottoms out. Over the following weeks or months, there are a series of "aftershocks" as each price rise triggers a new wave of profit-taking. But each rise and fall is smaller than the one that preceded it.

4. Bitcoin's price stabilizes. Most of the bitcoins are in the hands of people who intend to hold them for the long term. With no price fluctuations to report on, press attention to the currency drops off. Bitcoins prices are relatively stable until the next boom begins.

Notice that each turn of the cycle has left Bitcoin's price significantly higher than it was before. From an early 2011 price of $0.75, the price stabilized at $5 in early 2012, at $13.50 in early 2013, at $130 in late 2013, and at $900 today.

Notice also that periods of price stability have never led to sudden price drops. So far, major price drops have only come on the heels of even larger price increases. Each crash has bottomed out above the price Bitcoin was at at the start of the preceding boom. The crash in mid-2013, for example, reached a low of $50, way above the price of $13.50 at the beginning of 2013.

The obvious explanation for this pattern is that each new wave of publicity has expanded the Bitcoin economy. In each boom, some new Bitcoin users speculate for a few weeks and then cash out, creating volatility. But a significant number of the newcomers in each wave stick around, permanently expanding demand for Bitcoins.

Of course, these cycles can't continue forever. The process depends on new people being drawn into the Bitcoin economy. If Bitcoin keeps growing, it won't be long before the currency is so widely known and used that there's little room for further growth.

Once that point is reached, we should expect Bitcoin's price to behave the way it does in stage 4 of the cycle, when waves of publicity aren't drawing new people into the Bitcoin economy. These are periods of price stability, like May 2012, September 2013 and right now, when the price doesn't change very much from day to day.

Of course, it's important to acknowledge that past performance is no guarantee of future results. The fact that Bitcoin's price has never collapsed after a period of price stability, and that price declines have never wiped out the gains from a preceding boom, doesn't mean these things could never happen.

Still, the longer the Bitcoin economy grows, the greater confidence users will have in its continued stability. And that has important implications for Bitcoin users. One is that volatility doesn't strike at random. If you're thinking about doing business in Bitcoins and you want to predict whether Bitcoin's price is likely to fall tomorrow, you just need to look at what happened in the past couple of weeks. If prices were stable in the recent past, they'll probably be stable in the near future too.

Second, when thinking about Bitcoin's long-term future, it's misleading to think about the average level of volatility in the past. That volatility mostly reflects the currency's rapid growth, not something inherent in the technology. It's mathematically impossible for Bitcoin's rapid growth to continue forever. Once it slows, there's good reason to think volatility will decline with it.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/03/these-four-charts-suggest-that-bitcoin-will-stabilize-in-the-future/

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Lamborghini and McLaren Dealerships Drive Bitcoin Adoption in USA

If buying a few drinks or gadgets with your bitcoin stash doesn’t get your heart racing, a Los Angeles-based car dealer will be happy to exchange your coins for a motor – and not just any motor at that.

Bitcoin classifieds site Eggify has struck a deal with McLaren and Lamborghini dealerships in California to offer a number of exotic vehicles for petrol heads through its platform. Of course, these aren’t everyday cars so they’re not exactly designed for shopping outings or family trips to the beach.

Fast payments, fast cars

The first dealership, McLaren Newport Beach, claims to have the largest selection of McLaren MP4-12Cs on the West Coast – and a few Spider models, too. Needless to say, they don’t come cheap.

The 12C spider is powered by an eight-cylinder, 3.8-litre twin turbo engine and features a number of pricey extras, like carbon ceramic breaks, a lightweight carbon fibre engine cover and plenty of high-tech goodies. The list price clocks in at 387.40 BTC, but you can try haggling.

If that’s a bit too steep, you might want to check out a 2014 Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Spyder. It packs a 5.4 litre V10 engine and comes with plenty of extras, all for the bargain price of 310 BTC.

Back to the Future fans might want to grab a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 which is also available on Eggify for 24 BTC.

If you can get hold of Doc Brown’s flux capacitor, you could even travel back in time to mine a few bitcoins back in 2010 – which would be much easier than betting on a bunch of football games.

Four-wheel drive

‘Outdoorsy’ types may be interested that another car dealership, Land Rover of Redwood City, began accepting bitcoin payments via BitPay just yesterday. The dealership chose to accept bitcoins after it was approached by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who wanted to buy a vehicle using the currency.

Doug Doyle, the dealership’s general sales manager, said:

“Realizing we need to be ready to accept change in this constantly broadening virtual community, we agreed to our first bitcoin sale.”

He added: “Although the concept of bitcoin is hard to grasp, the process as put forth by BitPay is quite simple. Just send an invoice and the money shows up in your account. Simple and seamless, just as they said.”

The company has dealerships in California and Florida. In addition to brand new Land Rovers and Range Rovers, it also offers a choice of used vehicles.

Moving up a gear

This is not the first time a car dealership has chosen to accept the fledgling currency.

Last year, Lamborghini Newport Beach promised to accept bitcoins, but it later emerged that the dealership required buyers to convert their bitcoins into dollars – which doesn’t exactly qualify as a bitcoin deal. Now, however, it is offering its vehicles through Eggify.

Meanwhile, in Florida it is possible to charge electric cars for bitcoins, using Coinbase. Additionally, last December, UK car classifieds site Auto4You began allowing sellers to list their cars in bitcoin instead of pounds.

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/lamborghini-mclaren-bitcoin/

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