There are reports that Ben Lawsky of the New York Department of Financial Services is walking back from this original Bitlicense proposal which would have effectively excised New York State from the world of Bitcoin, while still advancing a weaker version of the proposal which would have a similar effect. The rumors that he is offering a weaker version are based upon the contents of a speech he delivered today, though the actual text of his regulatory proposal is still unavailable.
Category Archives: Fiat/BTC interfaces
MtGox Bankruptcy Trustee Answers Some Questions
MtGox and Bankruptcy Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi have answered some questions put to them by creditors at the second creditors meeting held on November 26th 2014.
In short:
- Proof of claims will be accepted beginning April 2015.
- Payments to TIBANNE have been reduced where possible.
- Financial reports for MtGox's first and second fiscal year have been released but it's not known if they are accurate.
- Bitcoin addresses will continue to be withheld.
Below is the English text from the predominately Japanese document.
Judge Rejects Florida Man's Bid to Dismiss Case
Florida Judge Fleur Lobree dismissed Pascal Reed's motion to drop illegal money transfer charges in an case relating to him selling roughly $25,000 worth of Bitcoin to a Secret Service agent in a sting last winter. Reed's lawyer argued that as merely a token of value applying Florida's money transmission laws to individuals as opposed to corporations would set a horrifying precedent:
"The statute was intended for the exchange of money for money, If you extend it to anything of value, then any customer using a credit card to buy something, anyone holding a yard sale and accepting cash, is a money transferer."
According to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle two other people were arrested as a result of this sting targeting "individuals engaged in high volume Bitcoin activity."
CoinJelly Exchange Warns Users They Have 24 Hours To Remove Coins
Ownership of the Australian Bitcoin exchange CoinJelly is alleged to have changed hands and as a result of the purchase, CoinJelly users have been warned that they have 24 hours to remove their coins from the site. Despite the announcement, which was made via email and twitter, no notification of account closures has been made on the CoinJelly website although the sign up process has been disabled. Continue reading
Microsoft Xbox and Mobile Marketplace Now Accepts Bitcoin
Microsoft Accounts, which includes Xbox Live users, now allow the "redemption" of Bitcoin for a dollar amount credit. This credit may be used as payment for Xbox Live Services and products. Windows Phone users may also use the credit to make purchases in the Windows App Store. Other well known Microsoft products, such as Windows and Office, are not available for purchase using this method. Continue reading
Silbert Syndicate Wins 48,000 BTC at auction
Barry Silbert has self disclosed on twitter that his bidding syndicate has won 48,000 BTC in the recent United States Marshal's Service auction. Tim Draper had earlier announced winning the other 2000 BTC up for bidding. Silbert's tweet:
Barry Silbert Announcement: Pleased to share that the syndicate organized by
@BitcoinTrust & our trading division won 48k bitcoin auctioned by US Marshals
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl Preview
Today the 2014 NCAA College Football bowl match ups were announced and the University of Central Florida Knights (9 wins, 3 losses) will be facing the North Carolina State Wolfpack (7 wins, 5 losses) in the Bitcoin St Petersburg bowl. The St Petersburg bowl which presently carries the Bitcoin name was born in 2008 as the magicJack bowl, before serving as the Beef 'O' Brady's bowl from 2009 to 2013. The game will begin at 8:00 pm Eastern time December 26th at Tropicana field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team and air on ESPN. Let's take a look at the teams: Continue reading
BitPay Yet To Release Bitcoin Black Friday 2014 Stats
Despite a promise that 2014's Bitcoin Black Friday, held on November 28th, would be bigger, better, bestest than ever before, BitPay are yet to release any data for the event, something which they were quick to make public in previous years.
In fact, there is little information coming from anyone associated with the event. PYMNTS.com published an article in which they cite Bitnet's1 calculation that USD $296 million was processed by the Bitcoin network on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There is no data which suggests this figure is attributable to BBF but that didn't stop Roger Ver, an investor in BitPay, from retweeting the article while ignoring requests for further information from other twitter users. Continue reading
Bitnet is a payment processor much like BitPay and Coinbase. ↩
11 Bidders 27 Bids in Latest USMS Bitcoin Auction
Reuters reports that 11 parties have entered 27 bids for Bitcoins in the latest Auction by the United States Marshals Service. Reuters notes in their write up that Steve Englander of Citi anticipated most bids being entered below market price.
Congress Man Proposes Bill (H.R. 5777 Full Text Attached)
Outgoing United States Representative Steve Stockman of Texas has proposed a bill, H.R. 5777 that if it became law would impose a moratorium of five years on regulatory and statutory constraints upon cryptocurrency, as well as changing the treatment of cryptocurrencies under United States tax law to that enjoyed by traditional currencies. The moratorium proposed would apply to regulations and statutes at both the state and federal level. The chance this bill passes either house of the legislature is remote given a lack of support and Stockman's limited remaining time in Congress. If it makes it out of Congress its chance of becoming law would still be rather remote, because it would arrive on Obama's desk and require his signature. At present the bill has been introduced to the floor of the House and referred to both the House Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Continue reading