UPDATED 17:01 EDT / OCTOBER 21 2015

NEWS

Bitcoin Weekly 2015 October 21: Kinguin partners with BitPay, corrupt agent sentenced in Silk Road theft, Voxelus cryptocurrency

This week opened up with the Bitcoin market rising almost $20 over last week and peeking into the $270 range–thus opening up rumors and speculation as to what’s causing this rising market. As with the last time Bitcoin saw a sudden bust of value, China is rumored to be behind it (or at least China unoficially “unbanning” the cryptocurrency).

The Bitcoin Group is on track for its upcoming world’s first Bitcoin mining company IPO in Australia after raising more than $3.6 million on BnkToTheFuture Bitcoin equity crowdfunding site. Another gaming merchant fleamarket has partnered with BitPay with web marketplace Kinguin announcing Bitcoin processing after G2A.com announced the same last week.

Former DEA agent Carl Force has been sentenced in relation to stealing bitcoins during the Silk Road dark web marketplace investigation of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts.

Finally, in gaming and virtual reality news, VR marketplace Voxelus announced a crowdsale of the tokens customers will use to purchase VR assets called “voxels,” which are a cryptocurrency based on a Litecoin-fork.

Is China behind the boost to Bitcoin market values? (Not likely.)

This week Bitcoin market values have continued their uplift since last week. Over the past seven days, the Bitcoin market has risen from from $255 per BTC to hover around $271 per BTC. As with any market shift, the reasons behind this apparent rising tide in value has been speculated.

And Cointelegraph published a piece entitled “China (Unofficially) Authorizes Bitcoin, Price Turns Bullish” which argues from a piece published by China’s People’s Daily, the major newspaper of the Chinese Community Party. Certainly comments and opinions in it appear to favor Bitcoin, but an astute reader on Reddit, /u/xiefeilaga, came forward to offer an alternative translation and explanation.

Xiefeilaga says that the article, first, not an official opinion of the Chinese government (nor is it an unofficial proclamation). However, the text of the article suggests not an unbanning of Bitcoin, but instead a shift in interest of Chinese banks towards blockchain-based technology–much like how many banks are looking at the Bitcoin blockchain, the underlying decentralized ledger that runs Bitcoin technology.

“The article is not about un-banning bitcoin,” writes Xiefeilaga. “It’s about banks in the US and Europe looking into the use of blockchain technology as a protocol for transaction verification. It states that China may do well to look into this as well.”

China’s influence on Bitcoin is historically important as in the past Chinese miners and speculation had been the hypothesized reason behind the market’s boom from dollars per BTC to a brief flirtation with $1,000 per BTC in 2011.

Current rumor is that the shift may be due to the newest addition to the Bitcoin exchange ecology: the Gemini exchange launched by the Winklevoss Twins. As the rising market value of Bitcoin appears to coincide with trading on that exchange. Although volumes and prices have not entered into the major Bitcoin market trackers yet, so it may be too early to tell.

World’s first Bitcoin mining IPO on track from Bitcoin Group

Melbourne-based Bitcoin Group Limited is on track for the world’s first Bitcoin mining Initial Public Offering (IPO) after raising more than $3.6 million on Bitcoin equity crowdfunding website BnkToTheFuture (Bnk To The Future Ltd.).The IPO is planned on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney on 11 November 2015 at AU$20 million (US$14.57 million).

This represents the third time that Bitcoin Group has attempted to aim for IPO–the previous two times the company had its efforts shut down by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

Since its launch BnkToTheFuture has become a go-to for crowdfunding large Bitcoin and blockchain-related projects. In June of this year venture capital fund Bitcoin Capital passed $1 million and not long after BnkToTheFuture announced raising more than $10 million for projects. To date the website has seen more than $36 million invested by 14,305 investors.

Kinguin.net is a marketplace where gamers can purchase Steam keys, CD keys, virtual items in games, etc. from resellers -- and now customers can buy them with bitcoin.

Kinguin.net is a marketplace where gamers can purchase Steam keys, CD keys, virtual items in games, etc. from resellers — and now customers can buy them with bitcoin.

Kinguin gaming merchant marketplace partners with BitPay

This week, Kinguin (Kinguin Limited) gaming marketplace announced a partnership with Bitcoin payment processor BitPay, Inc. to allow bitcoin payments for gaming items. At Kinguin customers can buy video game CD keys, virtual gift cards, virtual items, game time cards, and numerous other gaming-related items from a library of thousands of items provided by commission from various merchants listed on the site.

By partnering with BitPay, Kinguin merchants can now accept bitcoins for payment.

“Every website needs to acknowledge that bitcoin isn’t some vague futuristic concept”, Kinguin’s Senior Business Analyst Faheem Bakshi said. “Bitcoin is already here, it works great and is demanded by thousands of gamers. It’s a cross-border payment method that allows us to reach new clients and give users even more payment options. We’re all for freedom of choice, so choose whatever payment method suits you best”.

This partnership comes shortly after an announcement from another similar gaming marketplace, G2A.com Limited, also partnering with BitPay.

Kinguin’s following suit after G2A’s partnership shows a growing interest for these sort of marketplaces in a bitcoin audience. Both marketplaces provide a listing and commission service for copious merchants–some of whom provide game keys under shady circumstances.

These “gaming flea markets” for virtual products pose a perfect adoption route for bitcoin because of the grey area that they cover. It also means that merchants and customers need worry less about traditional financial sources, such as PayPal and credit cards, that charge higher fees than most bitcoin processors.

Corrupt agent gets six years for bitcoin theft in Silk Road case

Former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Carl Force was sentenced to 78 months in prison on Monday for his part in stealing bitcoins during the U.S. investigation into the Silk Road black market. He was also convicted of extorting payment out of Ross Ulbricht, aka “The Dread Pirate Roberts,” the operator of the dark web marketplace.

According to Reuters, presiding U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said that he found the scope of Force’s betrayal “breathtaking.”

Prosecutors also came to a plea agreement with former Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, who had been prosecuted alongside Force for a similar theft of bitcoins.

According to legal documents, Force extorted $50,000 worth of bitcoins from Ulbricht by offering information on the case against him; and then further changed aliases and attempted to get $98,000 more in bitcoin at a later date.

Ulbricht himself was convicted of operating the Silk Road and sentenced to life in prison after a jury in New York found him guilty of all seven charges brought against him for his part in the dark web market.

Image credit: via Voxelus

Image credit: via Voxelus

Not quite Bitcoin: ‘Voxels’ cryptocurrency for virtual reality company

Virtual reality marketplace Voxelus is crowdfunding the launch of its website by selling ‘voxels’ a type of cryptocurrency based on a Litecoin-fork. After the launch of the market, all VR-related models, games and other items will be sold for voxels similar to other markets where tokens are used for microtransaction exchanges.

“Early in my career, I was influenced by the visions of writers such as Neal Stephenson in books like Snow Crash that envisioned worlds with both virtual money and virtual reality,” said Halsey Minor, chairman and co-founder of Voxelus. “Making science fiction science fact is the kind of thing every entrepreneur lives for. By giving the voxel functionality equal to bitcoin while serving the ecosystem of the leading virtual reality gaming platform represents a remarkable technical achievement.”

The currency is being released in conjunction with Uphold, Inc. (formerly Bitreserve) where it will be sold after the public crowdsale. Shortly thereafter voxels will also appear on registration-less altcoin exchange website ShapeShift.io (ShapeShift AG), founded by Erik Voorhees who is also a team member of Voxelus.

Featured image credit: via Associated Press

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