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Finance, Software

Bitcoin News: Bitcoin Price Levels at $590

Bitcoin prices consolidated in rangebound trade on Monday, as speculators awaited the next catalyst to influence price direction. BTC/USD inched up 0.02%, or 13 cents, on Slovenia-based BitStamp to trade at $587.28 during U.S. morning hours.

Bitcoin prices were likely to find support at $555.90, the low from July 31, and resistance at $607.20, the high from August 1. Elsewhere, the price of a Bitcoin on Bulgaria-based BTC-e dipped 0.09%, or 50 cents, to trade at $580.50.

According to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, which averages prices from the major exchanges, prices of the crypto-currency eased down 0.01% to trade at $585.48. Sentiment remained shaky as a wave of technical selling kicked last week after prices dropped below key support levels, triggering fresh sell orders amid bearish chart signals.

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Prices of the virtual currency fell below the key $600-level on July 25, after trading above the mark during the previous 30 days. Bitcoin is digital cash and is not backed by a government or central bank to regulate or issue it. It can be used to purchase goods and services from stores and online retailers.

Bitcoin is back to trading above $580 after a short excursion below the figure earlier in the day. BTC prices hit a three day low of $572.69 today before rebounding. We are still in somewhat of a no man’s land. Unless bitcoin can climb back above $600, further gains are uncertain. Similarly, we can’t count on more losses until BTC/USD nears the important support at $550. Here is how today looked on BTC-E. Prices are somewhat higher at $585 per coin on BitStamp.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

UK Lifeboat Service Embraces Bitcoin Donations

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), informally known as the UK’s fourth emergency service, has announced it is accepting bitcoin donations. The RNLI says it is the first major charity in the UK to accept bitcoin. It also happens to be one of the oldest charities in the country, as it was founded in 1824.

According to 2013 statistics, the charity’s 400-strong fleet rescue an average of 23 people per day. Since its inception, the RNLI has saved approximately 140,000 lives. The pilot programme is already available online. The RNLI donations website now has a bitcoin section, complete with a wallet address and QR code.

The RNLI says it decided to run the trial because it wants to lead the way in accepting and benefiting from all forms of digital currency. It chose bitcoin as a well-established and widely-recognised digital currency.

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Leesa Harwood, RNLI Deputy Director of Fundraising and Communications, said the charity has a long history of innovation in fundraising, having held its first street collection in 1891. “Bitcoin is an innovative new kind of currency and we believe that accepting bitcoin will result in donations we may not otherwise receive, as well as connecting us with new types of supporters,” she said.

Harwood added: “This is a pilot scheme and we are looking forward to seeing how it will proceed as part of our interest in cryptocurrencies and how they may work in the future. We will of course closely monitor how much money is donated. We already have safeguards in place to monitor donations, however we receive them.”

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Richard Atkins
Analysis, BioTech, Commodities, Diversified Tech, Finance, Global Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions, Semiconductors, Services Sector, Software, software, Tech IPO

Range’s First-Quarter Results Come in Ahead of Expectations

Range Resources RRC reported first-quarter results Thursday. Quarterly production came in at 876 MMcfe per day, up 4% sequentially and 34% year over year and above both the company’s guidance and our forecast of 839 MMcfe/d. Growth was led by Range’s Marcellus acreage, where the firm continued to deliver impressive results across both its liquids-rich and dry-gas areas. Range maintained its 2013 guidance of 20%-25% … Continue reading Range’s First-Quarter Results Come in Ahead of Expectations

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Finance, Software

BitIndex Launched By Pantera to Track Bitcoin

Pantera Capital, an investment fund that focuses on bitcoin, has announced an index it says will allow investors to track the cryptocurrency over a medium-term timeframe. Dubbed the BitIndex, it takes into account seven different factors that Pantera believes accurately charts bitcoin’s overall progress.

What’s interesting is Pantera Capital is not including price in the BitIndex, instead tracking other data sources that it believes lends to bitcoin’s technological progression. Pantera states unequivocally in its letter that the BitIndex gives people a longer-range view of bitcoin than what price indexes offer.

In the fund’s monthly report for June, Pantera stated: “While some other indices also offer guidance (such as trade in USD), we chose not to include them because of unreliable data, limited availability, or other statistical problems.”

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Pantera’s letter does not indicate how it calculates the merchant adoption metric, although statistics for hashrate, user adoption by wallets and transaction volume are publicly available from a number of different data sources. Information from websites such as GitHub for developer interest, as well as Wikipedia and Google to identify mainstream interest and popularity, is also readily available.

BitIndex offers a different look at technological aspects of bitcoin rather than infatuation with the cryptocurrency’s valuation. In fact, the firm says that it is value distortions that influenced the creation of BitIndex, specifying, “price manipulation at Mt. Gox and/or the Chinese and in the first quarter of 2014 due to the collapse of Mt. Gox”, as problems defining bitcoin’s true worth.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

Bitcoin News: Wikipedia Now Accepts Bitcoin Donations

Open-source online encyclopedia Wikipedia is now accepting bitcoin through a new partnership with Coinbase. With the integration now active, all users have to do is go to Wikipedia’s donation page and opt to pay in bitcoin. Like with any option, users can choose to make either one-time or recurring donations to the free encyclopedia.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns and curates Wikipedia, announced on its official blog that it is now accepting donations in the digital currency. The organization cited grassroots community support for the integration, saying that demand for bitcoin support led to discussions on the leadership level.

The announcement is notable given the Foundation’s past apprehension toward the idea of accepting bitcoin. In March, the organization announced that it was beginning to discuss bitcoin donations, but co-founder Jimmy Wales later commented that Wikimedia was taking a “cautious” approach.

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In the blog post, Wikimedia chief revenue officer Lisa Gruwell said that the discussion process was in-depth, but with more clarification available on the legal status of digital currency, Wikimedia was able to move forward. She wrote: “Currently, we accept 13 different payment methods enabling donations from nearly every country in the world, and today, we’re adding one more: Bitcoin.”

In a separate email sent to Wikipedia supporters, the organization said that the goal is to offer “flexible” payment options to those who donate to keep the online encyclopedia running. With bitcoin, the Foundation declared, Wikipedia supporters can enjoy greater versatility in their donation options.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

easyHotel Franchisee Now Accepts Bitcoin for Room Reservations

Travelers to Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague can pay for hotel bookings in bitcoin at any of the Holland’s three easyHotels. The easyHotel Holland website offers a ‘pay in bitcoin’ option upon checkout that generates a BitPay invoice, QR code and wallet address included, to settle the payment.

The easyHotel brand has become increasingly popular in Europe, following the success of UK-based easyGroup’s airline and airport transfer brands, easyJet and easyBus.While the easyHotels in the Netherlands have embraced bitcoin as a payment option, other members of the hotel family in Europe and the UK have not as yet.

The easyHotels integration highlights the continuing growth of bitcoin into the hotel and travel industries.

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Last month online travel giant Expedia also began accepting bitcoin payments, but for hotel reservations only. The company has since announced that its bitcoin profits have exceeded expectations. Travel agency CheapAir, which initially began accepting bitcoin for flight bookings, began integrating bitcoin payments into its booking system this February, making the service available to 200,000 hotels and Amtrak rail reservations.

Although the easyHotels franchise is not an intermediary site like Expedia or CheapAir, it is a prominent and trusted name in low-cost travel options in the UK and Europe, and the company could see a lot of the same customers paying in bitcoin. Whether easyJet and the other easyGroup brands will follow suit remains to be seen. The Benelux region easyHotel franchisee acts under the holding company DanZep Hotels.

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Richard Atkins