This week’s Bitcoin Weekly has something for everyone. First, a new crypto-crowdfunding platform arrived earlier this month seeking to redefine how people raise funds with cryptocurrencies. Canada’s new Bitcoin-as-money regulations have already caused some casualties with Just-Dice and Doge-Dice suspending service to bring themselves in line with the upcoming law. BitcoinAverage is fast coming up on one year of service (this August.) And, Chinese Bitcoin-exchange OKCoin is adding algorithmic trading tools that favor high-volume traders.

Swarm seeks to redefine crowdfunding

Launched publicly in early June, Swarm hopes to redefine crowdfunding by using the Bitcoin second gen protocol CounterParty and crowdsourcing engagement.

Crowdfunding started June 17th and the company raised 1,200 BTC in 18 hours (approximately $720,000). That number has increased to approximately 1,359 BTC (30.2% of a 4,500 BTC goal.) The crowdfunding platform functions by selling its own cryptocurrency, Swarmcoin, to backers. These coins will then be redeemable for crowdfunding services in the future. Further lots of coins will continue to be sold in lots of progressively higher and higher prices to encourage investment. Coins will be sold until all 100 million swarmcoins are sold.

Important to the project is that backers of crowdfunded projects receive more than just gimmicky stretch rewards for participation. Backers who buy into Swarm receive equity on their cryptocurrency when crowdfunded projects succeed.

The end goal of the project is to produce a peer-to-peer, democratized crowdfunding platform that uses technology and protocols to enforce rewards for successful projects. Thus giving backers a strong reason to invest.

Just-Dice shutting down

Canadian Bitcoin gambling site Just-Dice is shutting down operations along with its sister site Doge-Dice. The move was announced on the Just Dice blog and the group cites recent changes to Canada’s regulation of Bitcoin use.

As of Monday, Just-Dice and Doge-Dice disabled betting and depositing until both sites can be brought into compliance with new regulation.

The suspension of services is termed as temporary, but site operators are urging current customers to withdraw all their coin. “We recommend that you withdraw your coins from both sites and keep them safely in storage until such a time as we are once again open for business,” site admin Deb wrote in the blog post.

Canada’s Bill C-31 contains provisions for regulation Bitcoin as money that directly affects Just-Dice. The new law calls for any entity “dealing in virtual currencies” to be subject to record keeping, verification, and suspicious transaction reporting. Just-Dice and Doge-Dice would have difficulty complying with these regulations as the operation is largely anonymous.

BitcoinAverage nears one year of service

The first Bitcoin market index to composite global bitcoin market values into a weighted average is about to celebrate its first birthday. BitcoinAverage.com is a useful tool for the Bitcoin community in that it’s the only price index that provides a global weighted average by aggregating multiple exchange prices weighted by volume.

BitcoinAverage started development in May 2013 and went live for the public August of the same year. As a result, the service’s first birthday is fast approaching.

The idea of a weighted global BTC value has been seen as useful by SiliconANGLE because any one exchange could become an outlier when it comes to global Bitcoin value. A good example could be when Mt. Gox had most of the trade volume, but began to skew from “real world” market value because USD (and shortly thereafter BTC) could not be transferred in or out (making it a poor index indeed.) At the time that happened, BitcoinAverage followed community consciousness and dropped Mt. Gox from its average.

The BitcoinAverage API at any one time serves over 4,000 active connections and the frontend sees about the same. It’s used by many popular services such as Bitcoin Wallet for Android and Lamassu Bitcoin ATMs. Developers interested in the code can look it up on github.

No news on a celebration from the dev crew yet for one year well done; but the service does plan to release an array of new features in the near future. However, a lack of funds has been a sticking point for development (open source development being what it is.) It is possible to donate to BTC to BitcoinAverage at 1EQDEEbYJuevPpJsDczQzspTV8GRTCpk1T  (qr code).

OKCoin launches algorithmic trading tools

OKCoin, China’s largest Bitcoin exchange, has announced the launch of Algorithmic Trading Tools on its trading platform. According to the release, this makes its exchange the first in the world to offer these institutional trading tools to investors.

With this launch, OKCoin will offer the following algorithmic trading strategies: Trigger Orders, Icebergs, and Modified Time-Weighted Average Price (TWAP).

Trigger Orders allow a trader to specify conditions under which an order is entered into the trading book. Icebergs allow a trader to mask the total order quantity of a massive order by breaking it up into many smaller orders. Modified Time-Weighted Average Price, or TWAP, orders allow high-volume traders to execute orders over a specific time frame to keep the price close to prevailing market price.

OKCoin’s new Chief Technology Officer, Changpeng Zhao hopes the addition of the algorithmic trading tools will attract high-volume investors to the platform and to Bitcoin in general.

“By being the first Bitcoin exchange in the world to offer Wall Street level trading tools to sophisticated investors, OKCoin is not only raising the bar–we are leading the digital currency evolution,” said Zhao.

OKCoin competes with BTC China, BTC China, BTCTrade, Huobi and CHBTC for the Chinese Bitcoin trade market. In April and May regulatory upheaval caused a notable dip in trade volume after the People’s Bank of China closed accounts and blocked deposits to major Bitcoin exchanges.