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Government Scoop
Rand Paul Announces Presidential Run And Is Accepting Bitcoin
Today Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) announced “I am running for president” in 2016 and is now accepting bitcoin contributions on his website. His presidential run will be focused on raising money from Silicon Valley libertarians. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel contributed to $2.6 million to Rand Paul’s father Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign.
Karpeles Leaks Emails From Fed. Agent Accused of Bitcoin Theft
Last week’s front page news featured a story of two rogue federal agents from the investigation into the online drug bazaar, Silk Road. The agents have been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of bitcoins for their personal gain. A few days ago Mark Karpeles, CEO of bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, leaked several emails between himself and one of the federal agents. In the leaked emails, agent Carl Force asked Karpeles to back him in a deal for 250 bitcoins. Shortly after Karpeles declined the request, a lawsuit was filed against Mt. Gox. Force followed up with an email to Karpeles saying “told you should have partnered with me”.
Industry Scoop
Public trading could begin next week for bitcoin fund GBTC
The Bitcoin Investment Trust’s Bitcoin exchange, the first “publicly traded bitcoin investment fund” could soon begin trading with the ticker symbol GBTC. The fund, started by Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of SecondMarket, passed all “regulatory hurdles,” and received FINRA approval in March.
Image Credit: @bitcointrust
Chamber of Digital Commerce to Offer Grants for Bankers to Learn About Digital Currency
The Chamber of Digital Commerce is now accepting applications from bankers who would like to attend the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Bootcamp for Digital Currencies in New York City on April 30 to May 2, 2015. “The chamber believes banks will be more willing to provide digital currency companies with banking services if they better understand their AML compliance efforts, the steps that can and are being taken to reduce risks, the issues digital currency companies face, and how similar these issues are to those facing banks.” The deadline to apply is April 22, 2015, 5 PM/PT. Application can be found here.
Google Venture and Reddit Founder Backed Exchange, Buttercoin Closes Doors
Bitcoin exchange, Buttercoin, backed by Google Ventures, Alexis Ohanian the Founder of reddit, and Y Combinator announced they are closing their doors on April 10th. The company raised over $1.3 million four months ago, however, according to Buttercoin, “we weren’t able to generate enough venture capital interest to continue funding Buttercoin.” Comparatively, Coinbase, a universal bitcoin financial services company, announced a $75 million raise earlier this year.
Bitstamp Initiates Lawsuit Between Ripple And Stellar
Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp filed a complaint for interpleader against Ripple Labs, Jed McCaleb and two of his family members. An interpleader is a civil procedure that allows the plaintiff (Bitstamp) to initiate a lawsuit to compel the defendants (Ripple Labs, Jed McCaleb and two of his family members) to litigate a dispute. The dispute is ultimately between Ripple Labs and Jed McCaleb. McCaleb is a co-founder of Ripple Labs, but left the company and founded competitor Stellar. McCaleb attempted to sell a large amount of his Ripple (XRP) currency on the Bitstamp exchange, Ripple claims the large sale is a breach of contract, leaving Bitstamp in the middle. The New York Observer has called the tiff “bad blood” against Ripple Labs and Stellar.
Mining Companies Claim Coinbase Wants “Completely Private Information”
Bitmain and MegaBigPower have claimed that Coinbase requested information about their mining operations that potentially infringe on their trade secrets. In an email to MegaBigPower, Coinbase asked for “verifiable time-stamped images of your mining equipment and key infrastructure elements at your facility.” MBG believes “Coinbase was facing pressure from regulators to gather such information, or that it was seeking details about bitcoin mining for business purposes.” Coinbase said, “The reason we ask for this information is for consumer protection.”
Image Credit: @coinbase
Ledger Integrating Open Source Security
French-based Bitcoin hardware wallet company, Ledger Wallet is in the process of integrating a new open-source security system for its Nano wallet. The system, BitID, uses “cryptographic challenges based on the ownership of a particular bitcoin address” instead of usernames and passwords for enhanced security.
Image Credit: @Ledgerhq
Boring Bitcoin Calendar
Mind the Gap Expo
April 10, 2015, Virtual Conference
Connect online with the Mind the Gap Expo, a virtual conference aiming to build the bridge between the crypto world and the financial world. Four different sectors will be covered including gambling, payment processing banking, crypto currency and mobile money & remittance. Speakers include Aaron L. Kaplan, Associate at Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC, Peter Kirby, President of Factom and more. Register here.
The State of Digital Money
April 18, 2015, Los Angeles, CA
Join in the conversation on virtual currency with “The State of Digital Money” in Los Angeles. The event will host conversations on the future of bitcoin and cryptocurrency, with interactive workshops, networking and panel discussions of regulation, security and law, blockchain technology and more. Key speakers include Jeff Garzik of Bitpay, Brock Pierce of Crypto Currency Partners, Steve Beauregard of GoCoin and Connie Gallippi of Bitgive. Register here.
Inside Bitcoins – New York
April 27-29, 2015, New York, NY
Inside Bitcoins will be returning to New York on April 27-29 at the Javits Convention Center. The program will cover topics including bitcoin 2.0, blockchain-based startups, institutional investing, multi-sig wallets, risk mitigation, compliance, banking and fundraising, and more. Keynotes have been confirmed from Dan Morehead, CEO, Pantera Capital and Chairman, Bitstamp; Brian Kelly, Contributor, CNBC’s Fast Money and Founder & Managing Member of Brian Kelly Capital LLC; and Perianne Boring, Founder and President, Chamber of Digital Commerce. Get 10% OFF with the discount code CHAMBER. Register at insidebitcoins.com/new-york.
Virtual Currency Today Summit
April 29, 2015, Boston, MA
“Bitcoin and Beyond: The Next Disruptor in Payments.” The Virtual Currency Today Summit will be held at the Hilton Boston Back Bay and will look at the many factors that will shape the adoption and growth of Bitcoin and other similar currencies. Expert panelists will offer insights on how market stakeholders can push through barriers to embrace digital currency as the next generation of payments and transaction solutions, which will ultimately change the end-user customer experience.
Card Not Present Expo
May 18-21, 2015, Orlando, FL
The CNP Expo will be held in May in Orlando, and was created to address the issues surrounding mobile payments. Keynote speakers include Instacart Executive Nilam Ganenthiran, Rent the Runway’s Jennifer Fleiss and BlueSnap CEO Ralph Dangelmaier. Agenda includes bootcamps, workshops and more. Register here.
Tweet of the Week
Paid for a taxi with bitcoin, now paying for dinner with it, too, with the @BitPagos team and @arielaguilar #bitcoin pic.twitter.com/Xrpl3GdnBX
— Victoria van Eyk (@victoriavaneyk) April 6, 2015
Video of the Week
On April 1, 2015 ChangeTip announced secret product, SCAN, a hardware/software exchange solution for digital currency. Check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCbBMAeX0ok
Pic of the Week
Paul Snow, Chairman of the Texas Bitcoin Conference and CEO of Factom, is riding 20 miles ON HIS UNICYCLE across Austin, TX to support the BitGive Foundation, Sean’s Outpost, among other charities. Please visit http://ridexaustin.strikingly.com to support his cause.