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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BitcoinWallet.com Domain Sold for $250,000

The domain name BitcoinWallet.com has been purchased by Austin, Texas, entrepreneur Alex Charfen for $250,000.

Niko Younts, a media consultant, bitcoin investor and the domain’s previous owner, broke the news via Twitter on 5th February.

Younts, who confirmed the sale to CoinDesk but declined to comment, also noted in the post that he is close to selling the domain BitcoinWallets.com for a similar asking price. The domain asset was a part of the NeverLoseVision.com investment portfolio, a seven-figure incubator portfolio with startup projects and investment domain assets.

A search of the WHOIS domain record-keeping database revealed that Younts is the current owner of BitcoinWallets.com, and that Charfen is the current owner of BitcoinWallet.com.

Who is Alex Charfen?

Founder of the Charfen Institute with his wife Cadey Charfen, Alex Charfen is an established entrepreneur and published author having written books as well as opinion articles for high-profile publications.

Also an accomplished motivational speaker, Charfen has built his career on his personal comeback story. In the 1990s, Charfen worked as at a multinational conglomerate, but lost everything when his investments in real estate were wiped out by the recession and subsequent financial collapse.

Undeterred, Charfen filed for bankruptcy and soon decided he could help the real estate industry learn from the mistakes it made. Charfen launched the Distressed Property Institute as a way to offer REALTORS additional education, and soon started the Charfen Institute, which provides training and educational products.

The company now earns 10.8m annually and placed among the Inc. 5000 in 2013.

Plans for BitcoinWallet.com?

A screenshot of BitcoinWallet.com

At press time, Charfen had not responded to requests for comment about his plans for the website. However, should the entrepreneur decide to launch a bitcoin wallet service, he is likely to find competition from the available desktop, mobile and web wallets.

Existing bitcoin wallet providers such asBlockchain, which recently passed 1 million users, and Coinbase, which raised $25m in its last round of funding, have already established themselves as dominant names in the space.

However, as the bitcoin market continues to grow, it’s not out of the question that the need for more user-friendly wallets, or even specialty types of wallets will emerge, meaning the investment could pay dividends.

What do you think of the purchase? Weigh in with your thoughts below.

Source: http://www.coindesk.com/inc-5000-entrepreneur-buys-bitcoinwallet-com-domain-for-250k/

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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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