The long-term drought of Bitcoin-related apps in the iOS App Store is coming to an end after Apple changed its terms of service to be friendlier to apps that trade in virtual currency. The first app to return to the App Store is Blockchain.info, are Coinbase and Coinjar far behind? The NYDFS “BitLicense” reactions are still coming in, some people like it, some people don’t—almost all find the drafted policy still problematic. Coinsetter, NY-based Bitcoin exchange, finally officially launches amidst talk of regulation in its home state. A Stradivarius violin sells for bitcoin, the story told with lush prose in The New Yorker.

This and more in this week’s Bitcoin Weekly.

Bitcoin market values have been depressed somewhat since July 24th, falling from a high of $625 USD to a low of $574, in almost 9% drop. Right now global average BTC market value is hovering around $576.93 according to the BitcoinAverage price charts. It’s unclear what’s driving this market change.

Blockchain.info returns to the Apple App Store

In what seems to be an end of the long dark winter of Apple’s discontent with Bitcoin, the Blockchain.info wallet app has finally returned to the iOS App Store. Apple spent part of 2013 and early 2014 yanking Bitcoin-related apps from its App Store due to those apps facilitating exchanges with virtual currency. Aside from Bitcoin.info’s wallet app, Coinbase and Coinjar also found apps pulled.

As for the return of the Blockchain.info wallet, the company (and community) feel hopeful this will lead to a brighter future with Apple and iOS devices.

“We’re very excited to continue investing in iOS again,” Blockchain.info CEO Nicolas Cary said, “and working with Apple to reimagine how the world transacts.”

Reactions to proposed NYDFS “BitLicense”

Last week, Ben Lawsky, Superintendent of Financial Services at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), chose to submit a draft of his New York BitLicense, the proposed New York State Bitcoin regulatory framework [PDF], to Reddit and since then a number of experts and businesses have given comment.

Tim Byun, BitPay’s Chief Compliance Officer, released a series of comments about the proposed framework—mostly encouraged by the NYDFS having a firm grasp of the Bitcoin ecosystem and laws related to money laundering; but Byun noted several challenges in the language of the bill itself.

“VC Transaction Reporting, especially purchases over $10K per day could represent an unlevel playing field as purchases via credit or debit cards over $10K are not reported,” Byun and BitPay note is a particular problem.

BitPay also highlighted that the “Identification of Large Transactions,” while it makes sense for the exchange of BTC for dollars, makes less sense when buying goods and services as per normal everyday commerce. Additionally, the “Cyber Security Program” provisions Buyn felt the requirements of annual penetration tests, would make it very difficult for smaller BTC holding and accepting businesses to engage in the New York ecosystem.

Coinsetter CEO Jaron Lukasiewicz commented to NEWSBTC on Thursday afternoon:

“I am excited to see the New York DFS’s proposal for the BitLicense come out for public comment. We will be working to understand the requirements it proposes so that we can be prepared to submit an application later this year.”

The Reddit thread started by Lawsky has since expanded to over 2,100 comments. Many of the popular commenters themselves echo the sentiment of BitPay’s CCO that the language of the proposed framework is woefully vague and broad in many places. Including fears that the framework will put unnecessary prohibitive restrictions on people creating alternative cryptocurrency coins.

Further industry leaders and Bitcoin luminaries have also added commentary, for a good round up of comments see CoinDesk’s coverage.

Coinsetter officially launches

Coinsetter, Inc., promising to be a full-featured Bitcoin exchange, based in New York City has officially launched its service. Coinsetter first appeared on the radar back in April 2011 amidst a surge of other similar exchange launches and is still not on many charts.

The site brags a full-featured exchange designed for high volume traders and a trade latency as low as 40 miliseconds. The exchange has also added a number of new funding options and, of course, allows bitcoin transfers to fund accounts for exchange trading.

Aside from day traders, the exchange also hopes to woo business users with lots of integration options.

“By expanding our platform’s capabilities,” writes Coinsetter in the blog announcement, “we now offer an institutional-class, plug-and-play package for Bitcoin ATMs, bitcoin payment processors, brokerages and other businesses that need to connect to a bitcoin exchange for liquidity.”

To celebrate the launch, Coinsetter has dropped its commission fee as low as 0.10% for its most active users.

Further news is available on Coinsetter’s official blog.

Being in New York City, Coinsetter is right at the seat of recent regulatory drama generated when Ben Lawsky submit his proposed draft of the Bitcoin policy framework (see above.)

Stradivarius violin sold for bitcoin—musical gold meets virtual gold

A convoluted, long, and tightly information packed story in The New Yorker tells the tale of three ambitious siblings, the Carpenters, who collect and sell expensive violins. The violin in question, a Stradivarius, represents a rare type of instrument that represents an item of ever-increasing value.

In this instance, the client who wished to purchase the instrument, The Leo Group and it’s senior managing director Matthew Allain, wished to purchase the instrument wanted to pay for it in the virtual currency: Bitcoin.

The Leo Group had its own unusual requirement: it wished to pay in bitcoin. One of its clients had significant holdings of the virtual currency. Allain and the Carpenters had arranged a deal involving a “bitcoin swap”: a newly created framework would hedge the risk, so that the agreed-upon dollar price would be guaranteed for both seller and buyer, despite fluctuations in the value of bitcoin. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission was due to review the unprecedented transaction that morning, and Allain awaited notification on his phone, which was perched next to his espresso cup.

The story does not list the price at which the siblings sold the Stradivarius to The Leo Group, but Wikipedia records that the Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin of 1721 sold in June 2011 for $15.9 million. The article does describe the price as in “the low millions,” so perhaps it sold for somewhat less.

Allian goes on to compare bitcoin and the Stradivarius: “We are big investors in gold. That’s a store of value, to the extent that someone is saying it’s worth something, just as we think bitcoin is worth something. This Stradivarius—it’s a finite supply. It’s musical gold.”

And in this way virtual gold meets musical gold.