Today Google finally joined Bing in showing bitcoin conversion rates in search results. QuickBooks now allows customers to pay businesses in bitcoins with Coinbase integration; Shopify has also launched Coinbase integration for its e-commerce web stores. BitPay is sponsoring a party at the North American Bitcoin Conference, happening this Friday, July 18th preceding the conference over the weekend.

A former director of the US mint is buying bitcoin (and tweeting about it.) And the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF approacheth (eventually.)

Catch up with all this and more in today’s Bitcoin Weekly!

Bitcoin conversion just hit Google Search

Ever since Microsoft put BTC conversion directly into their Bing search engine, the community has been wondering how long it would take Google to get the same done. Wait no longer, typing “BTC to USD” or varied values thereof into Google’s search bar will now produce results.

To get the conversion rates, Google has partnered with Coinbase. Bitcoin is displayed by Google’s currency tracker using Coinbase’s standard API.

QuickBooks Online now gives businesses the option to accept bitcoin payments

We’re not sure how this one got missed by Bitcoin Weekly, but in June QuickBooks Online collaborated with Coinbase to offer PayByCoin, a service from Intuit that will allow small businesses to accept bitcoin payments.

According to the Coinbase blog, customers will have the option of paying invoices in bitcoin. Small business operators will first have to register with Coinbase and link their Bitcoin wallet to their QuickBooks Online account.

Intuit does not currently charge any fee for the service and Coinbase does not charge fees for the first $1,000,000 USD in bitcoin transfers. After the threshold of one million dollars is reached a 1% transaction fee will be charged for BTC to USD conversion.

Shopify launches Coinbase integration

In November 2013, Bitcoin Weekly reported that Shopify joined with Bitpay to give their merchants the option to accept bitcoins—now Shopify has added Coinbase integration to permit the exact same thing. Shopify merchants can get the integration turned on by simply making a Coinbase wallet and connecting it to their account.

Coinbase announced that Leap Motion, Boosted Boards, Soylent and iOgrapher are the first merchants to use the new service and offer two-click bitcoin checkout, simple refunds, and, if they want to offer, automatic discounts for customers who pay in bitcoin.

For more coverage see the Coinbase blog and the Shopify blog.

38th Director of the US Mint buys his first bitcoin

Edmund C. Moy tweeted today that last week he bought his first bitcoin and it was “easy peasy.” He is an American businessman and a former government official who held theo office of Director of the United States Mint from 2006 to 2011.

I bought my first bitcoin last week. Easy peasy.

— Edmund Moy (@EdmundCMoy) July 15, 2014

He also writes about Bitcoin at Moneynews.com and other spaces (overview of his Bitcoin articles via his official blog.)

North American Bitcoin Conference and BitPay Party

The North American Bitcoin Conference will take place at McCormick Place in Chicago on Saturday and Sunday, July 19th and 20th. To kick off the event, bitcoin payment processor BitPay will be hosting a party on Friday, July 18th, at the House of Blues in Chicago.

The party will kick off at 6:30pm with a showing of The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin at 7:30pm

Brett Dulaney from ESPN will be at the conference to answer questions about the Bitcoin Bowl to be held in St. Petersburg, Florida, December 26th. See Bitcoin Weekly’s previous coverage of the Bitcoin Bowl for further information.

Other speakers will be Jaron Lukasiewicz from Coinsetter; Peter Smith, COO Blockchain.info; Changpeng Zhao, CTO; Tony Gallippi, Co-Founder BitPay; and Patrick Murck, Bitcoin Foundation.

Winklevoss tweet teases upcoming Bitcoin ETF

It’s coming, but what will it do to the Bitcoin marketplace? News continues to pour in about the upcoming Vinklevoss Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) as the as-yet-unknown date of its launch approaches.

Brace Yourself for the Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF via @BloombergTV http://t.co/DHLQQ7UZkU

— Cameron Winklevoss (@winklevoss) July 15, 2014

Such a fund would link a number of bitcoins directly to conventional investment channels (i.e. invstors can use a brokerage account through a bank or financial institution.) ETF University has an excellent run down of the mechanisms and function of ETFs on its website.

In depth crash course on Bitcoin by Andreas Antonopoulos

It’s about a year old now, but it’s still good. A little over one year of an excellent discussion of what Bitcoin is, what it’s not, and what the future may hold.

via Google Plus.