Square, noted ecommerce processor and service, has begun giving merchants the options to accept bitcoins with their Square Market service. Circle.com just announced a $17 million funding round alongside the launch of their first two products, an exchange and a wallet service, but the entire thing is still invite-only as it ramps up. Ross Ulbright, the Dread Pirate Roberts, has a clever lawyer who believes that the recent IRS decision to make bitcoin “not money” could mean a dismissal of some of the charges against the alleged Silk Road administrator.

Over the past week, the BTC market value has seen a dip from $680 down to $455; current thoughts on this depression appear to stem from rumors of potential Chinese intervention, regulation, or even bans approaching on April 15th. News is sketchy but that’s never stopped a good rumor.

Square Market allows merchants to accept Bitcoin

California-based ecommerce company Square has joined with Coinbase to allow merchants using the Square Market service to accept BTC at purchase. Read Square’s blog right now for the details,

[S]tarting today, buyers can purchase goods and services on Square Market with Bitcoin…

For sellers, the experience won’t feel any different. Whether selling services or goods, sellers don’t have to change a thing, except potentially expecting new trailblazing customers and more sales.

Whether the buyer is new to paying with Bitcoin or not, it should feel like a VIP experience. We focused on making the experience smooth and simple.

This change will bring bitcoin-buying power to the Square Marketplace web and mobile ecommerce solution for merchants. Giving numerous web-based stores the capability of accepting BTC for purchases with a simple interface change that makes it act fairly much like any other transaction. This means that Square has joined numerous other ecommerce processors such as 3dcart.

However, Square has not yet added bitcoin acceptance to their Point of Sale solution, which Square is more famous for. Perhaps it’s a step in the right direction, but currently most companies that have adopted bitcoin purchases have done so only via web-based applications such as Overstock.com and Tigerdirect.

Circle receives $17m in funding, unveils exchange and wallet

Circle Internet Financial, an as-yet mysterious seeming Bitcoin advocacy company, has finally unveiled its first two products alongside the announcement of a $17 million Series B investment funding round. Investors include Breyer Capital, Accel Partners and General Catalyst Partners, which brings Circle’s total funding to date up to $26 million.

“We are thrilled to have such a strong showing of support and vote of confidence from world-class investors and strategic individuals,” said Jeremy Allaire, Circle founder, Chairman and CEO, “as we move into the commercial phase of Circle.”

Allaire revealed to the press that Circle will be offering services akin to an exchange and a wallet, but he doesn’t like those terms. He wants to give a service for bitcoin users that makes it easy to exchange currency for fiat and provide for an end-to-end lifecycle with tools that makes using BTC just like using any other money on the Internet.

The invitation-only release of Circle’s new products happened last week, March 26, 2014, and is expected to continue slowly for a while to come. Right now, Allaire explains, Circle is slowly expanding its user base while the company works with regulators and expectations when working with bitcoins.

“Unlike many first-generation bitcoin companies, we’ve been extremely engaged and transparent with regulators about our commercial and product plans,” Allaire said.

Further news on this subject is available at Coindesk and Circle’s blog—for those interested in getting in an invite to check out Circle’s new services, sign up is on the homepage.

Ross Ulbright’s lawyer files for a dismissal of charges citing IRS policy, “Bitcoin is property”

Ross Ulbright, best known as the alleged Dread Pirate Roberts of the infamous Silk Road, might be looking at an unlikely reprieve now that the IRS has made it policy that bitcoins are not money, but instead property.

According to Forbes, Ulbright’s lawyer Joshua Dratel has filed a motion to dismiss all charges—including the narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, facilitating criminal enterprise, etc.—but most prominently it attacks the money laundering charge by citing the recent IRS policy change that states that bitcoins are not money.

Due to this, Dratel is arguing that his client could not have used bitcoins for money laundering, because it does not fit the law’s definition of “money.” Especially since nothing on Silk Road could have been traded for anything other that bitcoins—no dollars or any other money-like currency changed hands on the entire site.

“Count Four, which charges Mr. Ulbricht with participating in a money laundering conspiracy…must be dismissed because the allegation lacks an essential element: that the ‘financial transactions’ alleged involved ‘monetary instruments,’” the motion reads. “Bitcoins, the exclusive means of payment on Silk Road, do not qualify as ‘monetary instruments,’ and therefore cannot serve as the basis for a money laundering violation.”

As to the rest of the charges, Dratel states that Ulbright is not culpable for the activities of people using the platform he provided as he was not directly involved in any of the exchanges. Ulbright just gave people a forum space to conduct trades—sometimes involving drugs or hacking—but did not formally involve himself by providing materials or support other than a space for them to conduct business.

Money laundering isn’t the most damning charge against Ulbright, that award goes to accusations of murder-for-hire filed in a Maryland court and not among the charges filed in New York that Dratel is currently pushing for dismissal thereof.

Wild Chinese regulatory rumors causing Bitcoin market depression?

Recently news came out attempting to understand the sudden drop in BTC value across numerous markets—over the past week BTC has fallen from $680 down to $455. This dramatic change is thought to have been driven by unfounded speculation and rumors linked to possible Chinese regulation or even outright ban of bitcoin in the country.

The rumors and the effects on the market have been followed by several blogs including a lengthy dissection by CoinReport and a post in BitBitcoins calling the rumors “fake.”

The rumors appear to have surfaced around March 21st at Sina Weibo, a microblogging site based in China. The report claimed that the Chinese government would be holding any bank connected with any bitcoin transaction after April 15th. While Sina Wiebo appears to be the origin for the rumor-stories, other Chinese-based news outlets have also forwarded the story.

Numerous bitcoin-related businesspeople in China have spoken out that they did not know of any impending doom from the Chinese government involving BTC and could not find any verification from the People’s Banks of China.

OkCoin’s CEO, Star Xu said, “We didn’t get any official announcement.”

“We haven’t seen any concrete evidence of any of this yet,” said Bobby Lee the CEO of BTCChina. If the regulation rumors turn out to be true, however, he added “We will adjust our business model accordingly, and it’s too early to tell what all of the options are, and which directions we will proceed down.” Most Chinese bitcoin business leaders, however, are currently proceeding as if the rumors are false.

However, CoinReport does report that Bter is taking it seriously and has suspended Yuan deposits.