Tag: Bitcoin

Finance, Software

Bitcoin Update: Bitcoin Price Drops Below $400

In what seems like a development which is the latest blow to bitcoin prices, Bitcoin prices have slumped to its lowest level since May late last week. The decline has since been largely attributed to a worsening short-term news outlook, as well as the industry’s margin traders, though alternative theories have been proposed.

At press time, at least one notable industry analyst, along with a host of exchange users are suggesting that margin trading may have once again played a factor in today’s decline, as a flash crash observed on popular bitcoin trading platform BTC-e caused the price of bitcoin on its exchange to decline sharply to a low of $309.

That price was observed on BTC-e at roughly 07:36 (UTC), and was followed by similar declines across other major bitcoin trading platforms including Bitstamp, Huobi and OKCoin, market analysis shows. Notably, this is not the first time such a large flash crash has been observed on BTC-e. For example, this February, the price on the exchange declined nearly $500 in just over one minute.

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Data analysis shows other major exchanges soon responded to declining prices observed on BTC-e, with a sharp drop observed across their order books at roughly 07:37 (UTC). By 07:46, the price of bitcoin on Bitstamp began its decline, landing roughly $20 below its starting point to touch $462.01 and hitting a daily low price of $442 at roughly 08:51.

Major China-based Huobi and OKCoin also recorded less notable drops during this time. For example, Huobi’s price decline began at 07:37, dropping from ¥2880.1 to ¥2788.1 by 07:45. Likewise, OKCoin saw prices on its exchange fall from ¥2880.4 at 07:36 to ¥2785.3 by 07:45.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Internet

Bitcoin News: Bitcoin Payment Now Integrated with Social Networking

A new Japan-based wallet service called ‘Ninki’ aims to be a social network for payments, where users build trusted groups who may need to transact on a regular basis or for a common cause. Local charity events, crowdfunding campaigns, small- to medium-sized businesses and international freelancers are among the most likely kinds of user groups, said the company’s lead developer, Benjamin Smith. Users can form groups and share details as easily as they can on popular social networks.

Smith further said “The idea initially came from seeing how difficult it was for people to exchange and scan QR codes, copy and paste addresses, etc. Even for my tech friends. People get lazy and use the same address all the time.” What makes Ninki stand out from other bitcoin wallets is its Contacts list, where users can categorize their contacts depending on their transaction needs.

Ninki, which means ‘popular’ in Japanese, has undergone extensive alpha testing over the past few months and opened in beta to the public last week.

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Registering a new account with Ninki generates quite a few keys and codes, so get ready to take secure notes. The software generates a public user name and a 15-word public phrase. These are for others to identify you within the network and so you can perform a secure out-of-bound validation of the user.

At the user dashboard level Ninki’s interface is in plain language and straightforward, with all the encryption and security handled seamlessly in the background. You can search for other users by username and avatar, adding and approving them as desired. For one-off payments, you can also send to a standard bitcoin address.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

Europe Closes In On Taking a Decision Regarding Bitcoin VAT

A recent legal referral in the EU may be inching the region a little closer to more unity on one small element of bitcoin taxation, but it won’t do much to help global confusion on the matter. Cryptocurrencies are so new that few member states have worked out how to interpret the VAT rules for them.

In June, Sweden asked Europe’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), whether cryptocurrency exchanges are liable for value-added tax on the fees that they charge for their services. The result could have far-reaching implications for tax in the region.

In Europe, there is a directive on VAT that explains how it should be levied. EU directives are powerful documents, designed as high-level guides that member states can interpret when making their own laws. Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland and Italy haven’t decided whether to charge bitcoin exchanges VAT on the service that they provide. Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia have no regulations on the matter either.

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Some states have firm rulings on the matter of VAT for Bitcoins. The UK was among the first, effectively making bitcoin trading exempt from VAT in a ruling published in March. While exchanges and miners are off the hook, though, the UK says that VAT should be charged when goods and services are sold for bitcoin. Denmark has also said that bitcoin trades will be free of VAT.

Several states have taken an opposing view. Estonia made its own decision about VAT on profits from bitcoin exchange services, levying a 20% tax on those trading bitcoins as a service. It is also charging a 10% tax on profits from selling bitcoins. Poland has imposed a 23% VAT on bitcoin mining profits, although its position on bitcoin exchanges isn’t clear.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

PayPal Subsidiary Braintree On Verge of Accepting Bitcoin

Payments firm Braintree, a subsidiary of eBay and PayPal, is “in talks” with Coinbase and several other processing companies on the possibility of accepting bitcoin, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Braintree provides payments software for a number of popular mobile applications including Uber, Airbnb, and GitHub.

The company, which was acquired by PayPal for $800m in December last year, was processing up to $12bn in payments annually at the time – $4bn of that via mobile apps. No matter which bitcoin processor Braintree may choose, accepting digital currency would represent another significant step in bitcoin’s lifecycle.

“People familiar with the matter” stressed that any deal would not include either eBay or PayPal accepting bitcoin for now, though senior executives including eBay CEO John Donahoe have at times expressed an interest in ways to accept digital currencies, even describing it as “inevitable”.

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Anyone who doubted the seriousness of those comments in the media may be swayed if a partner business as close as Braintree began accepting bitcoin, demonstrating its utility on a slightly smaller scale than the two online giants. It could also represent a foot in the door for future acceptance

Both Uber and Airbnb have much in common with bitcoin. The startups have been lauded by supporters in the technology world for their disruption of the taxi and hotel industry, though they have also encountered stiff opposition from established participants in those segments. Thanks to its formal partnership with PayPal, also an eBay subsiduary, Braintree now serves 40 countries and 130 different currencies.

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Richard Atkins
Finance, Software

DISH Embraces Bitcoin Payment Programs

DISH customers can now use bitcoin to pay their monthly TV bills. The Colorado-based company went live with its bitcoin payments program today as part of its previously announced third-quarter rollout. The first customers to pay for DISH services using bitcoin are Austin and Beccy Craig. The American couple have famously chronicled their attempts to live using only digital currency on their Life on Bitcoin blog.

DISH head of corporate communications John Hall framed the news as part of the company’s overarching goal to embrace innovation: “DISH has always been about investing in better customer experience, whether that’s changing the way that we watch TV or the way that we bill.”

Hall said the company’s bitcoin payment option will now be visible to those using its online My DISH accounts and its Hopper HD DVR devices. “You can actually go into an app within the Hopper and pay your bill, and now if you choose bitcoin, it will come [up] with a QR code that you can pay right on your TV screen,” Hall added.

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DISH will accept payments through bitcoin merchant processor Coinbase. One of the first customers, Beccy Craig told CoinDesk that, while she was previously been a DISH customer, she’s looking forward to resuming the service now that she can make monthly payments in bitcoin. Austin Craig added: “We had a lot of time to read books and take hikes, but there were not very many luxuries like DISH.”

While TV may have been off limits at the time, the couple did have some success stretching the limits of what was available for purchase with bitcoin, even booking airline travel and hotel stays. The couple’s adventure is due to be chronicled as part of the as-yet unreleased ‘Life on Bitcoin’ documentary. As of June, the project was in the process of being submitted to at least one major film festival.

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Richard Atkins