Cryptocurrency

The Bitcoin Revolution Hits Africa

The virtual currency straight up: computer money created by an anonymous hacker in 2009 has captured hard-core geeks hearts. Its appeal? It enables bank-free (aka middleman-free) anonymous purchasing and, crucially, its a global currency thats not tied to any central bank and not much different than a dollar or a euro. The key characteristics of this digital cash also happen to make it a great fit for people who arent so down with advanced digital technology: the 326 million Africans who lack access to basic banking services. This isnt such a crazy idea. Mobile payments that work on standard-feature phones have already made strong inroads in Africa, with 16 percent of Africans using the services. The largest provider of such payments, M-Pesa, already operates in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, as well as India and Afghanistan. READ THE FULL STORY

The Silk Road, for all its clever uses of security protections like Tor and Bitcoin to protect the sites lucrative drug trade, still offered its enemies a single point of failure. When the FBI seized the server that hosted the market in October and arrested its alleged owner Ross Ulbricht, the billion-dollar drug bazaar came crashing down. If one group of Bitcoin black market enthusiasts has their way, the next online free-trade zone could be a much more elusive target. READ THE FULL STORY

Bitcoin may be the future of digital money, but it has a big problem here in the United States: why use it to buy anything when millions of merchants already accept debit and credit cards? Today, if you want to buy a bottle of lemonade with bitcoins, you need to scan a QR code with your phone or email a long bitcoin address to the seller. For most people, buying with bitcoins just isnt as easy as Visa or MasterCard. READ THE FULL STORY

ByPatrick Howell ONeillonApril 19, 2014 Never has there been a more confident, carefree group of drug users than those buying and selling on theSilk Roadin the weeks leading up to April 20, 2012. Hot off the infamous black markets first birthday celebrations, those hazy-eyed optimists were busy getting ready for what seemed would be the greatest4/20sale of all time. A feeling of invincibility permeated the Road and all who walked it. If the cops hadnt shut her down yetafter all the media attention the black market had receivedthen they might never come. This party didnt have to end. READ THE FULL STORY

Reuters | Updated: Apr 19 2014, 16:53 IST Mark Karpeles, the chief executive of Mt. Gox, said he would not come to the United States to answer questions about the Japanese bitcoin exchanges U.S. bankruptcy case, Mt. Gox lawyers told a federal judge on Monday. In the court filing, Mt. Gox lawyers cited a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Treasurys Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which has closely monitored virtual currencies like bitcoin. READ THE FULL STORY

Cryptocurrencies will create a fifth protocol layer powering the next generation of the Internet,saysNaval Ravikant. Our 2014 fund will be built during the blockchain cycle,concursFred Wilson. And Andreessen Horowitz have very visiblydoubled downon Bitcoin. Even if you dont believe in Bitcoin as a currency, and Ill grant theres plenty to be skeptical about, you should be thinking:huh, a lot of extremely smart and successful people think that its underlying technology is a pretty big deal. But as I wrote myselfjust a few weeks ago, theres a big difference between blockchain technology and Bitcoin itself, right? READ THE FULL STORY

BYKIM ZETTER The dark web just got a little less dark with the launch of a new search engine that lets you easily find illicit drugs and other contraband online. Grams, which launched last week and is patterned after Google, is accessible only through the Tor anonymizing browser (the address for Grams is: grams7enufi7jmdl.onion) but fills a niche for anyone seeking quick access to sites selling drugs, guns, stolen credit card numbers, counterfeit cash and fake IDs sites that previously only could be found by users who knew the exact URL for the site. READ THE FULL STORY

The Monday night meetings at New York Citys Bitcoin Center hardly seem the stuff of a revolution. Wielding smartphones and computers, the mostly male, mostly under-30 revolutionaries stand in the middle of a cavernous space in the shadow of the New York Stock Exchange. Their mission is to spread the gospel of bitcoin, which they believe has the power to upend the global financial system. READ THE FULL STORY

PostedyesterdaybyCatherine Shu BTC China, one of the worlds largest bitcoin exchanges by trading volume, released a new mobile-friendly Web app called thePicasso ATMtoday. The Picasso ATM allows users around the world to exchange the digital currency for cash without having to find a physical ATM. To use Picasso ATM, bitcoin owners first load the currency into BTC Chinas Picasso Wallet and then sell it through the Web app. Buyers can then immediately confirm transactions on their smartphones. The app is targeted at casual bitcoin users as well as businesses and store owners, who can set their own profit margins on the currency like owners of physical ATM machines. READ THE FULL STORY

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