Bitcoin News Roundup – 11 Jul.2015

Posted by: DeepDotWeb

July 11, 2015

Recapping the week’s biggest Bitcoins stories from around the web.

Following the default on the IMF loan payment and the “No” vote on austerity measures in the Greek Referendum last Sunday, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is looking for alternative solutions in case Greece is forced out of the Eurozone. Sarah Jenn of NewsBtc reports that the Greek debt crisis and the capital controls imposed during the last two weeks have left the Greek government with two options: either they sign a deal with the Eurozone and they stay with the Euro or they lead their own way but they are in desperate need for an alternative currency, besides the national currency, drachma. Since the drachma is expected to have a low value outside Greece and will be worth much less compared to current deposits in euros, the Greek PM Tsipras may consider a digital currency that will remain stable regardless of political and financial turmoil.

Citibank is experimenting with the cryptocurrency technology aiming to release its own cryptocurrency. As P. H. Madore of CryptoCoins News writes, following the development of three cryptocurrencies with the same characteristics with the bitcoin, Citibank is working towards the adoption of a own digital currency. However, analysts and experts question why Citibank would prefer to use its own cryptocurrency rather than using the bitcoin. In any case, this move indicates the need to store large sums of money digitally and that many traditional financial services have become obsolete.

Deloitte strongly supports the issue of a state-sponsored cryptocurrency. According to Stan Higgins of Coin Desk, Deloitte released a report aiming to explore why and how a bitcoin-oriented system would favor financial institutions if the ledger is supported by a central bank.Deloitte notes that “the result very well may just be a new method of handling payments that would revolutionize the current system.”

BitFury has announced a new round of fund raising, aiming to build a data center in the country of Georgia. As Paul Vigna of The Wall Street Journal writes, the Amsterdam-based bitcoin mining startup has raised $20 million in the third round of fund raising from Georgian Co-Investment Fund, DRW Venture Capital, and iTech Capital, among others. BitFury has already raised $60 million in 2011 and $20 million in 2014 and it aims to remain competitive and anticipate the high costs of the mining industry.

Bitstamp joins forces with eCheck to facilitate the bitcoin transactions in Canada. As Katherine Fletcher of Coin Report writes, the Slovenia-based exchange has announced that Canadian customers could use the eCheck, also known as Automated Clearing House (ACH), to transfer their money from their bank account to a Bitstamp account within two and five business days.

Regulation

California digital currency bill is being amended to include a conditional application process for early-stage industry services.Giulio Prisco of Bitcoin Magazine reportsthat bill AB-1326, which was originally approved with a 55-22 vote in favor by the California State Assembly, has been amended to match the State Digital Currency Framework, enabling small startups to get approved by the California Commission of Business Oversight. Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, stated that the amended bill “is good news for bitcoin advocates everywhere.”

Payments

Uber, the American transportation network company, negatesplans to integrate bitcoin payments in their platform. According to Inside Bitcoins, the San-Francisco based company twists a previous statement related to potential bitcoin integration and denies that this story was ever true. The reason for this new development remains unknown, however it is strange that Uber is reluctant to work toward integrating bitcoin payments since this would accelerate the payment processes.

Bitwala brings the email payment service to Europe. As Elliot Maras of CryptoCoins News writes, the Netherlands-based bitcoin payment service has introduced EmailPay, a bitcoin email payment service that allows registered users to send a bitcoin payment using their email address. The settlement is in euros in the European Commission’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).

Updated: 2015-07-11