Category Archives: Bitcoin

I will start by vehemently apologising, well, maybe not vehemently but I do apologise for not letting you know about our very first Bitcoin event here in Bulawayo prior to its occurrence on Saturday as I had promised to always do sometime back. The situation was beyond my control typical excuse, I know.

Anyway, the fact that I bear the news of our first Bitcoin event should be enough to earn me some forgiveness. I say its the first because it is the first (I know people from Harare might find this unbelievable hence the emphasis). If there has been any other then I must have missed the party and therefore please let me know in the comments section.

The event was hosted by Evans Nyoni from a company called Lifestyle Galaxy. The presenter Jacques Leitao (a rugby player of the Zimbabwean national team) basically explained the Bitcoin as well as the T&Cs of mining it with their company. Im yet to get more information and write a separate article on that once I have all the facts in order just in case youre interested. I also wont be reporting on his introduction to Bitcoin talk since most, if not all those things have already been covered on this platform.

However, I will go ahead air out my concerns

There has been a lot of Bitcoin talk all over the world, including here on Techzim obviously but maybe just not in Bulawayo. You might think Im exaggerating this but I guarantee you Im not. Even the events turnout surely agrees with me. Not that no one knows about Bitcoin in Bulawayo obviously, but I think the talk has just been concealed within techies and there hasnt been enough engagement with the general public.

Also, I havent come across any startup or company that deals with Bitcoin in Bulawayo but in Harare theres already some which includesBitmariand BitFinance.

You might be wondering why Im targeting Bulawayo much, well, #1: its my city; #2: its the second capital city of Zim and #3: rumour has it that its Zimbabwes own Silicon Valley. Now you see why I expect more from it???

It was not until I went to Harare that I realised Bitcoin had become a thing in Zimbabwe. I kept hearing about the Bitcoin events taking place and this made me realise how not-so-fascinated Bulawayo was about Bitcoin (I dont know about other crypto currencies though). Well, its either that or Harare is just being overzealous about it and in my opinion it is justified.

I imagine that this was the case when physical currencies or money was first introduced, people wondered how it would work since they were so comfortable in their barter trade. But now can you imagine a world without money? (though as Zimbabweans, we most likely can) Maybe thats why we even cant imagine the Bitcoin working since the system has been imbedded so strong in us.

However, whether we like it or not times are changing, were now in a digital age which follows that digital currencies would be more appropriate. I am by no means saying that Bitcoin is the ultimate answer but its surely a step forward. In fact, lets all take part in this revolution, you never know how useful your input can be in all this.

See, I would rather we reject the Bitcoin only after talking about it rather than automatically discarding it and believe you me being silent about it is equivalent to rejecting it. Being the debater that I am, I have grown to believe in the power of discussion. Discussions help retain more knowledge through engagement as people question and/or breakdown points hence giving a broader perspective of the subject.

Nonetheless, I feel like most of us, (like yours truly) are quick to dismiss things before even finding out much about them, but this article is a special dedication to my Bulawayo peeps to start reading around and discussing this interesting topic and not be oblivious to noisy topics such as these.

Originally posted here:
My thoughts on the Bitcoin adoption status in Bulawayo - Technology Zimbabwe

Bitcoin startup Bitwage, which focuses on the international payroll market, is expanding its European footprint with a launch in the UK.

The company announced its push into the UK market today. Through their platform, which launched in 2014, workers in the UK can accept their wages through settlement options likeBACS, CHAPS, Faster Payments or SWIFT into their local British pound-denominated bank accounts.

Local users "now have the option for a direct deposit into any wallet of their choice", the startup added.

"For workers in the UK, this now means you are able to have more diversity in how you would like to receive your wages. You can split your wages at any percentage between many different bank accounts and digital wallets," Bitwage founder and president Jonathan Chester wrote on the startup's blog.

The launch comes months after Bitwage beefed up its European-focused services with the launch ofunique International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs) for customers in the region. At the time, the startup framed that upgrade as part of its push into the European market.

Bitwage has raised $760,000 in funding to date, drawing support duringa round in late 2015 from investors includingOrange Telecom and Draper Associates

UK pound image via Shutterstock

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Bitcoin Payroll Startup Bitwage Launches UK Services - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

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Why You Won't Be Buying a Coffee With Bitcoin Anytime Soon - WSJ Wall Street Journal (subscription) The cost of buying or selling the digital currency recently hit an all-time high, making day-to-day transactions like buying a cup of coffee impractical. and more »

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Why You Won't Be Buying a Coffee With Bitcoin Anytime Soon - WSJ - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

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Bitcoin is currently down about $500, or nearly 17%, from its June 12 th peak of $3,000 per coin. Essentially every other major cryptocurrency, including Ethereum and Litecoin, has seen similar declines. There have been fluctuations since the peak, but the overall trend has been steadily downhill for weeks.

While it can seem odd to apply old-school securities terms to newfangled digital money, that means the crypto market is nearing the conventional 20% decline that defines bear territory.

Few insiders or regular Fortune readers are likely surprised by this. "Bubble" was maybe the single word most consistently spoken by expert panelists at the Consensus conference in late May. Our Robert Hackett diagnosed a speculative bubble two weeks before the peak.

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Recent weeks losses werent the one-day implosion often associated with a bubble. But the more important feature of bubbles delirious optimism ungrounded in reality has been swirling for months. Investment Strategist Matt Prusak, writing at Coindesk, has rounded up some novel examples of "dumb money" (his term) rushing into cryptocurrency. Many of them are quite entertaining if you arent among those taking losses right now.

Prusak points out, for instance, this account of amateurs rushing into the market as it peaked:

The tweet is particularly notable, of course, because Dmitry Buterin is the father of Vitalik Buterin creator of #2 cryptocurrency Ethereum. Dmitry, like most insiders, has been watching for a correction for weeks.

Pusak also points out this doubly amusing post from BroBible, titled "What is The Etherum [sic] Cyrptocurrency [sic] and How Will It Make You Rich AF?" It was posted, misspellings and all, as the market was already heading down.

Pusak dives into several other dimensions of crypto-mania, but Ill cite just one more thats particularly illuminating. Through the entire course of the runup, the value of Ethereum (ETH) has been tracked closely by the value of Ethereum Classic (ETC). While Ethereum may be the cryptocurrency with the broadest real-world adoption, Ethereum Classic is a so-called fork, completely distinct from Ethereum and with barely a fraction of Ethereums adoption.

Pusak says it is "highly likely the price [of ETC] has been driven significantly higher by uninformed investors simply not understanding the difference between the two similar to how adding ".com" to a companys name in 1999 sent stock prices up on average 74%."

To be clear, calling the cryptocurrency market in a given month a hype-driven bubble is not the same thing as deriding the technology. This is revolutionary stuff with huge long-term potential, and for some, declining prices will mean a buying opportunity . But it's an extremely volatile, high-risk asset, and theres every chance that any particular coin even Bitcoin itself could end up being worth nothing at all.

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Bitcoin Nears Bear Market Territory - Fortune

Renwick Haddow is accused of duping investors into investing in a fake Bitcoin trading platform. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

US authorities on Friday charged a British businessman with securities fraud, accusing him of deceiving investors over what turned out to be a fake trading platform for the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged the clandestine Renwick Haddow, a UK citizen living in New York, diverted funds invested in a phoney Bitcoin site as well as from a flexible workspace firm Bar Works into accounts in Mauritius and Morocco, totalling $5m.

It said he touted experienced senior executives as behind the operations who turned out to be phantoms, and misrepresented the details and success of both companies.

Andrew Calamari, director of the SECs New York office, said: Haddow created two trendy companies and misled investors into believing that highly qualified executives were leading them to quick profitability.

In reality, Haddow controlled the companies from behind the scenes and they were far from profitable.

Bitcoin Store claimed to be an easy-to-use and secure way of holding and trading Bitcoin that had generated several million dollars in gross sales. The SEC alleged that in fact it never had any operations nor generated the gross sales it touted.

In 2015, Bitcoin Stores bank accounts allegedly received less than $250,000 in incoming transfers, none of which appear to reflect revenue from customers, the SEC said.

Haddows investors pumped more than $37m into Bar Works, which claimed to provide workspaces in old bars and restaurants, but in fact primarily sold leases coupled with sub-leases that together functioned like investment notes, the SEC said in a statement.

The commission alleged that throughout Haddow was hiding his connection to the companies given his checkered past with regulators in the UK, where he has faced similar charges for investment schemes.

According to a report in Crains, 27 investors from China filed suit in the state supreme court on 16 June seeking repayment of more than $3m invested in Bar Works, which they called a Ponzi scheme.

Another investment group filed a similar case against Bar Works in Florida in recent weeks.

Read more:
UK dealer charged in US over multimillion-dollar fake Bitcoin site scam - The Guardian

Entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who previously helped Bitcoin's value drop after calling it a "bubble," is now interested in another digital currency. And no, it is not Ethereum, but the UnikoinGold .

According the Coindesk , Cuban is participating in another fundraising round of one of his portfolio companies , a sports-betting blockchain platform dubbed Unikrn, via an initial coin offering.

An ICO is a crowdfunding method that has grown in popularity as of late among blockchain startups, with more than 30 ICOs already this year. Companies sell their own digital currencies and use the proceeds to fund their businesses .

Unikrn has already raised some $10 million from investors, including Ashton Kutcher. The company allows anyone to place bets with its digital token, the Unikoin, according to Coindesk.

Investors will be allowed to register for the pre-sale starting mid-July. About 1 billion UnikoinGold tokens will be up for grabs.

The company has yet to establish a price for the UnikoinGold, though investors will be able to exchange digital currency for Ether, the token under Ethereum.

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This Is the Cryptocurrency Mark Cuban Is Backing - Fortune

About two months ago, hedge fund billionaire Michael Novogratz made a bold announcement: He'd put 10% of his net worth into digital currencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum. But a lot can happen in a couple of months. Specifically, the price of Bitcoin has more than doubled, and the Ethereum price has multiplied six-fold.

So around the time the cryptocurrencies reached all-time highs earlier in June, with the Bitcoin price hitting $3,000 and Ethereum breaking $400 the following day, Novogratz thought the current crypto boom had topped out. He sold "a bunch" of his digital coins.

"I think the market had a spectacular run, and trees dont grow to the sky," Novogratz said this week, speaking at CBInsights' Future of Fintech conference in New York. "So I probably still have roughly 10% of my net worth in crypto, but its been scaled way back."

I own a lot less coins, theyre just worth more," Novogratz added.

His call turned out to be well-timed. Just days after setting record prices, Bitcoin and Ethereum crashed as much as 25% in just 24 hours. Ethereum kept right on falling, at one point trading 46% off its high and that's not even counting last week's flash crash in which the price briefly plummeted to just 10 cents.

Cryptocurrency traders have become accustomed to their prices violently whipsawing up and down in waves a 30% drop in the Bitcoin price in May preceded its recent peak by about two weeks but the current downdraft appears more sustained. Though the cryptocurrencies, rooted in a technology system known as the blockchain, have each since recovered some of their losses, they have yet to come anywhere close to their highs.

Now, Novogratz, who formerly ran a hedge fund at Fortress Investment Group and now invests in blockchain companies, thinks the cryptocurrencies have peaked for the time being, and it could be a while before they return to record levels. "I think we may have put the highs in for the year in Ethereum, and you're going to slowly consolidate," he said at the conference.

To be sure, the billionaire is still bullish on digital currency over the longer term hes just waiting for the right time to buy again. And he has a pretty good idea of when that is.

If Bitcoin fell back down to $1600, he said, hed "be buying a lot of it." And if the Ethereum price retreated to between $150 and $200, it would be cheap enough to merit buying more, he added.

Those prices would give Ethereum a total market value of about $20 billion, which "sounds about right for where we are" in the evolution of the technology, Novogratz said.

After all, even if you believe, as he does, that the cryptocurrencies have much further to run he compares the current phase of the industry to the third inning of a baseball game investors who bought in amid crescendoing hype have still gotten burned in the meantime. "If you buy Ether at $400 and it goes to $200, I dont care what inning you think it is, it feels really shitty," Novogratz said. "Youve got to be pretty careful when you enter these things."

(Lest anyone doubt the present frenzy among cryptocurrency traders, a popular Reddit thread points to a newly created website shouldisellmybitcoins.com , which generates a No response in the form of a different amusing Gif image each time anyone clicks on it.)

Eventually, however, Novogratz believes there will come a time when investors are better off getting out of cryptocurrency entirely though its likely still a long way off. "I sense that this blockchain, Bitcoin, Ethereum, ICO revolution is going to be the single greatest bubble of our lifetime," he predicted. Of course, when that bubble pops, its probably a perfect time to buy back in.

Excerpt from:
Here's When You Should Buy Bitcoin and Ethereum - Fortune

BBC News

Bitcoin accepted at New York pre-school BBC News The head of two Montessori schools in New York won't let parents pay by credit card - but he is accepting Bitcoin. Marco Ciocca, co-founder and chairman of the Montessori Schools in Flatiron & Soho, added the option in June, after growing inquiries ... and more »

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Bitcoin accepted at New York pre-school - BBC News

Say what you will about the cryprocurrency market in the first half of the year, but give it this: it wasnt boring.

In contrast to the U.S. equity market, where a popular measure of volatility has been hovering near a multidecade low since May, there was nothing but volatility in the realm of digital currencies, underscored by jaw-dropping gains on the year and a gut-wrenching drop this month.

Digital currencies hit a number of key milestones in 2017, including breaking into the 12-digit club, as the combined market value of all cryptocurrenciesled especially by bitcoin and ethereumsurpassed $100 billion for the first time ever, and currently stands near $104 billion.

Cryptocurrencies have become so prominent that major semiconductor stocks have started to move based on how readily their chips are used by miners, who use high-powered computers in a race to solve complex puzzles. Those who solve these problems are rewarded with the digital gold of bitcoin and other digital currencies.

The volatile ride cryptocurrencies in garnering increased attention from mainstream companies and average Joes and Janes, belies the setbacks it has faced on the regulatory front. Notably, the Securities and Exchange Commission in March rejected what would have been the first bitcoin exchange-traded fund, as well as the reputation hits from recent high-profile cyberattacks where bitcoin ransoms were demanded.

Still, the overall trend in crypto in 2017, as it was last year, was shockingly positive. The price of single bitcoin BTCUSD, -1.98% currently sits at $2,565.47, up 165% thus far this year, though down 15% from a record high above $3,000 hit earlier this month.

Gains for ethereum has been even more pronounced. Not only has bitcoins chief rival surged past it in terms of daily trading volume, according to CoinDesk data, but it is also up nearly 3,500% on the year, having rallied from $8.40 at the end of 2016 to a shade under $300 presently. And that surge includes ethereums current bear market, as it is down more than 20% from a record hit earlier this month.

See also: Heres how blindingly fast bitcoin has been surging

Read more: How cryptocurrency ethereum looks set to overtake bitcoinin one chart

The size and scope of the rallies in digital currencies easily eclipses the year-to-date move of more traditional assets like stocks. For example, the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.37% despite enjoying its own run-up, has gained a much milder 9% year to date, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.19% is up 8.6%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -0.96% is up a touch more than 15% in 2017. Among the best performing commodities, palladium PAN7, -1.77% is up more than 25% on the year. None of those rallies approach the year-to-date surges in popular cryptocurrencies.

Perhaps for that reason, questions about whether these digital currencies are in a bubble have emergeda debate that will undoubtedly continue to rage in the second half of the year. That is particularly if they show further stabilization and add to their string of records.

Whatever, the future holds for bitcoin, it appears that with its $42 billion valuationenough that it has become bigger than such iconic brands as Delta Air Lines DAL, +0.56% and Deere & Co. DE, -0.40% one can no longer argue that bitcoin is simply a niche asset, even if bitcoin and its rivals are risky and untested.

And while one proposed metric for bitcoin valuation suggests the digital currency is within historical realms, Morgan Stanley recently argued that government regulation was needed for bitcoin to continue its dalliance into the record books.

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What delivered the best return of 2017's first half? Bitcoin and ethereum - MarketWatch

If you are investing, does bitcoin have an intrinsic value, like gold? To me, bitcoins look more like tulip bulbs. Photograph: Benoit Tessier/Reuters

How can I invest in bitcoin? Id like to invest a few hundred pounds. Andy

There are at least three ways, though only one of them looks rational today. First, you could mine your own bitcoins. Second, you could buy some from an exchange. Third, you could buy shares in a fund that has invested in bitcoins.

Please note that answering your question is not a recommendation, and I am not qualified to give advice on investments. However, as electronic payments expert Dave Birch put it to me on Twitter: one doesnt invest in bitcoin, one gambles on bitcoin.

The problem is that people can make money by buying things that are essentially worthless, such as used postage stamps, Beanie Babies, and (historically) tulip bulbs. Tulipmania operated on the bigger fool theory, also known among stock traders as momentum investing. For example, tulip bulb prices may be insane but they keep going up. I may be a fool to buy them, but I expect a bigger fool to buy them from me. Simply replace buy low, sell high with buy high, sell higher. This works until you run out of fools.

However, you can buy things that dont depend on bigger fools appearing, such as land and gold. Their prices may vary dramatically, but over the long term, they retain real value. When tulip bulb prices were tumbling, everyone wanted to sell. When gold prices tumble, people with money look forward to an investment opportunity.

Bitcoin is a digital currency. If you want to buy a camera for 250, then you need a way to transfer 250 to the seller. In theory, it doesnt matter if you pay cash, write a cheque, email the money via PayPal or use bitcoin. In reality, you have to balance a range of factors including convenience, security and transaction costs. Id use a credit card, if possible, because bitcoin payments are not reversible and offer no consumer protection.

But if you are investing, does bitcoin have an intrinsic value, like gold? To me, bitcoins look more like tulip bulbs.

The price of a bitcoin may increase because, for example, it is attractive to technology enthusiasts, and because we are all reading stories about how people made or failed to make fortunes. But, like tulip bulbs, bitcoins could be worthless when the bubble bursts.

As Henry Blodget told CNBC: Look, this is a perfect asset for a speculative bubble. There is a finite supply. There is no intrinsic value. If anybody is persuading you that it should somehow be related to some GDP or gold put down the Kool-Aid and back away.

You could argue that banknotes dont have any intrinsic value either. However, banknotes are backed by governments that have a strong interest in keeping their value relatively stable. Governments dont (yet) care what happens to bitcoins.

Bitcoins are mined by people solving problems with computers. In the beginning, the best way to make money from bitcoins was to mine them with a home PC. However, bitcoin mining becomes more difficult the more miners there are. Today, you need specialised hardware, and you need to join a mining pool where large numbers of miners work together and share the results. Coins are not pure profit because of the cost of the hardware and the electricity consumed when mining. Also, you dont know what bitcoins will be worth when you start mining them.

However, there must be dozens of digital currencies besides bitcoin, and the CoinChoose website lists a Top 20. Well known alternatives include Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin and Bytecoin. You might find one that is still worth mining, or that might represent a better gamble than bitcoin. CryptoCompare is another useful website.

Ethereum is interesting because its backed by an alliance that includes JP Morgan, Microsoft, Intel, Banco Santander, Credit Suisse Group, UBS and BP. Its designed to perform transactions very much faster than bitcoin, and its hashing system is decentralised by design. It favours individuals, not mining pools.

You can buy bitcoins from a bitcoin exchange or online broker, directly from another individual, or from an ATM. Coin ATM Radar lists about 50 bitcoin ATMs in London, many of them in convenience stores. As when buying foreign currencies, theres a fee, which can range from 3.1% to 17.6%. The website covers 56 countries and you can search for an ATM near you.

A bitcoin ATM usually takes cash from your bank card, though some only accept banknotes. It sends your digital currency (bitcoin, litecoin etc) to your wallet, which could be a smartphone app, or to your email address. Some ATMs can print paper wallets that you can scan later.

If you buy a digital currency from an exchange, it may well offer you an online wallet, but your money is at risk unless you have the keys. When the Mt Gox bitcoin exchange was hacked, around 850,000 bitcoins went missing. It was a $450m loss at the time, but at todays exchange rate, it would be $2bn.

There are dozens of different wallets for different purposes, with hot wallets on smartphones and cold storage wallets held offline on paper, on hardware devices (cards, thumbdrives etc) or on separate PCs. These are equivalent to your spending money and your savings account respectively.

You will need to research wallets. However, We Use Coins has a decent guide, and it recommends BitPays Copay to beginners. Its easy to use and it runs on iOS, Android, Windows and Windows Phone, MacOS and Linux. It can also handle shared accounts.

I used my Android phone to search for bitcoin wallet on Google Play, and gave up when it produced around 200 results. Copay was near the top. It only took two minutes to create a wallet, and it prompted me to make a backup: Watch out! If this device is replaced or this app is deleted, neither you nor BitPay can recover your funds without a backup.

It also warned me that Anyone with your backup phrase can access or spend your bitcoin. I dutifully wrote it down.

Once the wallet is set up, you can use the app to buy bitcoins from Coinbase in 33 countries, and from Glidera in the USA. It can take several days to buy or sell bitcoins via Coinbase.

Some investors presumably ones who do not have teenage children think bitcoin is for the tech-savvy, difficult to buy and perhaps even harder to store safely. This has given rise to funds that buy bitcoins or related assets such as mining companies. Last month, The Motley Fool described one ETF as The Worst Way to Buy Bitcoin. At the time, the story said, shares in the Bitcoin Investment Trust cost about twice as much as the bitcoins it owned, but typically they have traded at an average premium of 39% to underlying value of the bitcoin.

You could buy dollar bills for $1 each, so why would anyone pay $1.39 to invest in a $1 bill which is actually worth less than $1, because of the 2% annual management fee? Answer: the laws of supply and demand.

Other American investors were conned by a Ponzi scheme that offered shares in bitcoin mining machinery.

Stories like that could be signs of a bubble market, but if so, when and how it will end is impossible to say.

Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com

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How can I invest in bitcoin? - The Guardian