Last week, just as Bitcoin value exceeded $200 it also swelled to almost $266 only to see a crash over the next few days that brought it back down to near $50. It’s been a very volatile week since the last Bitcoin Weekly–but this hasn’t stopped even greater popularity from reaching into the bitcoin market, with even more businesses signing on (including OKCupid.)

Bitcoin value bubble peaks at $266 levels off around $70

Last Wednesday and Thursday saw the huge estimation of BTC value on exchanges such as MtGox suddenly plummet. In only a matter of weeks, a single bitcoin came to flirt with a valuation around $266; but when the correction came–and a sudden lag as well as trading difficulty on major exchanges–that value fell to near $70. It didn’t rest there for long, however, and over the remaining days rose again to hover around $90 but then fell once again as low as $50 but once again rose to hover around $70.

It’s there now.

During the fateful day, MtGox, Bitfloor, and Bitcoin24 all noted issues with their trading systems and this probably amplified the effects of what happened. While MtGox did not get a DDOS happen to them on Wednesday the exchange did buckle under the pressure of massive a massive number of trades–of course, DDOS did end up hitting major exchanges the next day.

Coinsetter raises $500,000 for Bitcoin Forex

Last week, a new Bitcoin forex announced a wad of cash from investors–to the tune of $500,000 in their first round of funding–seeking to become a major competitor to the current exchanges in the bitcoin market. With MtGox holding almost 80% of the current trade volume, Coinsetter seeks not just to introduce more advanced forex trading to the market, but intends to cater to high-volume traders.

When it was mentioned that exchanges suffer an unexpected volume of attacks, CEO Jaron Lukasiewicz said that his company will be paying special attention to security.

“Security and protecting customer’s funds is our absolute highest priority, and we will be releasing more information on our security procedures closer to launch,” he told SiliconANGLE. “In the meantime, we are taking the capital we’ve raised to put a lot of manpower behind our development and have several people conducting code reviews.”

CEO Mark Karpeles from MtGox talks about the exchange’s issues

The CEO of MtGox, Mark Karpeles, appeared on a Reddit AMA last week under the moniker /u/WeAreMtGox to talk about the troubles the exchange suffered during the massive trades that happened on Wednesday and Thursday.

The major takeaway is that MtGox has grown too far, too fast and was unable to keep up with trades–this caused the site to slow to a crawl. Troubles went so far that MtGox froze all trades for multiple hours on Thursday. Karpeles went on Reddit to assure users that the executive and development teams at MtGox are working on new servers, a better codebase, and better security to handle future market spikes.

Numerous businesses follow the popularity boom and begin accepting BTC

This may become a staple addition to Bitcoin Weekly if it keeps up, but the boom in media attention for bitcoin brought many new businesses into the business of accepting the cryptocurrency for retail and services.

Tuesday, OKCupid announced partnership with Coinbase to accept and process bitcoins for the 7 million strong online dating site. CEO Sam Yagan is quoted saying, “There’s no question that these digital currencies are going to be the future.”

Fat Property, a Houston, TX-based real estate company, has begun accepting bitcoins for rentals via Houston Bits.

Merrin & Gussy, began accepting bitcoins for jewelry via BitPay. “Personally I think Bitcoin has amazing potential,” a representative wrote in a Reddit announcement, citing the versatility and fraud-proof effect of bitcoins. Very few people realize the extent of fraud that occurs on a daily basis and faces sites selling online.”

Interesting couch-problem-fixing product site Couch Clamp now accepts bitcoins for their $7.99 per-4 product that keep upholstery from roaming around the room. The business uses Coinbase for payment processing and intends to keep most funds in BTC. When asked about why other businesses should accept bitcoins via e-mail, Couch Clamp mentions Paypal being a nightmare to work with.