UPDATED 15:03 EDT / JUNE 10 2015

NEWS

Bitcoin Weekly 2015 June 10: ShapeShift iOS app, Bitcoin mugging, Voxelnauts, T0.com cryptobonds, and more

The news out of the Bitcoin community this week is extremely electric and involves numerous businesses and projects continuing to expand innovate.

ShapeShift, Erik Vorhees’s no-registration bitcoin/altcoin exchange, is getting an iOS app. Voxelnauts from Retro Ronin is running a Kickstarter to launch a Minecraft-clone sandbox MMORPG that will link to the NXT blockchain.

Kraken appoints a new Chief Compliance Officer. Overstock.com, Inc.’s CEO Patrick Byrne bought the first $500,000 cryptobond from T0.com, which is expected to release $25 million in blockchain secured bonds. Symbiont, a startup founded by ex-Overstock.com employees working on a similar project, just announced a $1.25 million seed round to provide a Bitcoin blockchain securities management service.

A man in Brooklyn, New York became the victim of a bitcoin trade gone wrong when he was mugged at gunpoint. He was unharmed (although about 4 BTC poorer for the experience) and released the transaction ID of the theft, further details below.

This and more in this Bitcoin Weekly.

ShapeShift.io gets an iOS app for trading bitcoins and altcoins

Simple cryptocurrency exchange ShapeShift AG, developed and released by Founder and CEO Erik Voorhees, has just released an app for iOS devices that will allow users to easily exchange bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies online. ShapeShift was launched in 2014 and Vorhees was revealed as its creator in March of this year.

Erik Voorhees’s ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange requires no log in.

Erik Voorhees’s ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange requires no log in.

The killer app of the ShapeShift.io webpage and app is that it enables users to exchange cryptocurrencies without needing an account. Interested parties enter a desired altcoin, a payment address, and send the cryptocurrency that they desire to trade, then wait for another party to also anonymously submits coin for trade.

The ShapeShift app is available in the Apple App Store. No plans have been revealed for an Android app to date.

Coinmap 2.0 released

The original Coinmap was an excellent resource when attempting to discover nearby businesses that accepted bitcoin–it was also SiliconANGLE’s go-to metric for looking into local adoption of bitcoin. As time went on, it became difficult to tell if Coinmap was being updated or curated, but it still remained a central useful resource.

Now, SatoshiLabs, creators of the Slush Pool and the TREZOR Bitcoin hardware wallet, has announced the release of Coinmap.org 2.0–a new and very much improved version of the original Coinmap.

Kraken appoints Howard Bernstein as CCO

The regulatory landscape of the world in relation to Bitcoin continues to be a stormy place fraught with pitfalls and unanswered questions. To stay ahead in what continues to be a regulatory nightmare, Bitcoin exchange Kraken (under Payward, Inc.) announced Howard Bernstein as the exchange’s Chief Compliance Officer (CCO).

Bernstein brings over 20 years of experience to Kraken and previously acted as the Chief Compliance Officer at Merriman Capital, Inc., a publicly-held investment bank, where he designed and implemented a compliance program to meet SEC and FINRA requirements. He also has experience as the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer for Merriman Capital.

This appointment fits nicely, especially noting the just-released draft of New York’s BitLicense, which has received continued rounds of criticism from the Bitcoin industry. Recently Coinbase ceased trading entirely for residents of Wyoming due to regulatory issues, and exchanges in general are becoming extra careful about compliance.

“Brooklyn Man Robbed at Gunpoint for $1,100 in Bitcoin”

No joke. In a terrible turn of events a man in Brookly, New York was robbed at gunpoint and mugged for bitcoins. According to an article on DNAInfo.com New York, a hyper-local news source, the police report says that a 28-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint during a Craigslist meetup to trade bitcoins gone wrong.

Shortly after this news was posted to Reddit, an anonymous commenter claiming to be the victim appeared.

“I know getting into the car with the man was a stupid thing to do,” he wrote about the experience. “I learned that the hard way and am thankful that I wasn’t physically harmed. I also hope this incident serves as warning to others to avoid doing the same.”

He included information about the Bitcoin addresses used including noting that the attacker used a Blockchain.info wallet (which could potentially be a lead for authorities to help identify the owner of that wallet.) The initial transaction, for approximately $1,000, shows a transfer of 4.26 BTC.

Photo credit: Voxelnauts via Retro Ronin

Photo credit: Voxelnauts via Retro Ronin

Voxelnauts Kickstarter seeks to bring NXT blockchain-based property management to an MMORPG

A new Minecraft-clone is coming to Kickstarter with the VR-enabled Voxelnauts developed by Retro Ronin, which will also leverage the blockchain of NXT to secure property ownership in the game. Voxelnauts is a voxel-based sandbox MMORPG where players will explore and build their own universe, and part of that building involves the creation of spaces, items, and even currencies and economies.

NXT is an open source cryptocurrency altcoin to Bitcoin that uses proof-of-stake instead of proof-of-work to secure its blockchain. Voxelnauts will use NXT’s blockchain to secure property in the game and allow players to show ownership as well as provide access controls and trade unique items. The developers also expect to use NXT to allow for the creation and trade of in game currencies and assets in a player economy that will be tradable out of the game by “cashing out” via NXT.

Already the Bitcoin blockchain has seen some interest for asset management outside of games such as when the government of Honduras partnered with Factom for land registry management and Nasdaq’s use of the Bitcoin blockchain for an enterprise securities management service.

Bitcoin mining: As easy as screwing in a light bulb

Last week numerous Bitcoin luminaries met on Richard Branson’s private island (Necker Island resort) and BitFury launched a Bitcoin mining lightbulb. The entire endeavor is described as being an entirely Necker Island brainchild: idea on Necker Island, developed on Necker Island, and finally launched on Necker Island.

The BitFury Bitcoin mining lightbulb originally emerged from the brains of Bill Tai, who runs MaiTai Global with Susi Mai, and Niko Punin, Head of Product at BitFury.

The process emerged from an attempt, years earlier, to set up a Bitcoin mining laptop—which took hours. Tai and Punin wanted to develop something that could be out-of-the-box click-and-run. All that would be needed was a light bulb screw base, a microcontroller, a bitcoin mining chip, and a wifi chip. The end product is controlled via an iPhone.

Photo Credit: Bill Tai with BitFury bitcoing mining bulbs via MaiTai

Photo Credit: Bill Tai with BitFury bitcoing mining bulbs via MaiTai

For further coverage of the Necker Island Block Chain Summit see last week’s Bitcoin Weekly.

CEO of Overstock.com Patrick Byrne purchases first $500,000 cryptobond

Monday, Patrick M. Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, Inc., made the first purchase of the world’s first cryptobond of $500,000. The company intends to sell a total of $25 million in digital bonds secured and protected by the Bitcoin blockchain ledger.

“I intend to demonstrate my belief not just in Overstock,” said Bryne, “but in the TØ.com platform that we built and, indeed, in the cryptorevolution itself.”

T0.com is a yet-to-be-launched face of the cryptofinance platform, which supports a larger cryptofinance initiative from Overstock.com called Medici. The T0.com platform is powered by the Bitcoin blockchain and the Open Assets Protocol. The $25 million bond offer from Overstock.com and the T0.com platform were announced early 2015.

The press release on the purchase notes that those who purchase cryptobonds on T0.com will be able to track their ownership on the Bitcoin blockchain. Trades on T0.com will settle during the same day, thus the T0 is a reference to the Wall Street T+3, or three days, time needed to settle trades.

This offering is being made exclusively to qualified institutional buyers that meet the definition of “accredited investor” in compliance with Rule 506(c) of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.

Symbiont raises $1.25 million for Bitcoin blockchain securities management

Blockchain securities management startup Symbiont just announced a $1.25 million seed round. Investors include Duncan Niederauer, former CEO of the NYSE Euronext; Matt Andresen, founder of the Island ECN and trading head at Citadel; Getco, LLC founders Dan Tierney and Stephen Schuler through Wicklow Capital; Scott Carmilani, Chairman and CEO of Allied World Assurance Company; and Celeridem FinTech Fund.

The startup was founded by ex-employees of Overstock.com, Inc.’s Medici project—which also uses Bitcoin blockchain technology to secure “cryptobonds” and is mentioned above.

Symbiont intends to use the Bitcoin blockchain as a distributed ledger to democratize securities markets and drive down cost, says co-founder and CEO of Symbiont Mark Smith.

The emergence of Symbiont into the market fits nicely with other businesses working on similar projects such as Nasdaq.com, which is currently pushing a similar Bitcoin blockchain securities management service for enterprise clients.


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