In many ways it’s been a thankfully dry week for big Bitcoin news, but this is also an industry that never sleeps. The technology is evolving and the companies that work in the Bitcoin space continue to build market and interest.

First up, the Gemini bitcoin exchange, brainchild of the Winklevoss twins, launches this week and its co-founders expect it to make a splash because the company is a New York state limited trust company.

In crime news, Coin Fire reported this week that Bitcoin exchange Cryptsy is under investigation by multiple U.S. federal organizations (including the IRC, SEC, and others, see below). Also, the U.S. Marshals are auctioning off the last 44,000 bitcoins seized from dark web marketplace Silk Road.

As for bitcoin adoption news, Lionsgate, well known movie maker, has teamed up with GoCoin to give customers the option to pay for movies and TV shows in bitcoin at its company store.

This and more in this week’s Bitcoin Weekly.

Winklevoss twins bitcoin exchange Gemini to launch this week

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are ready to launch their new Bitcoin exchange the Gemini Trust Company, LLC.

The exchanged, named for the Greek twins and the constellation, was first announced in January and will officially go live for trading Thursday, October 8th of this year.

In the blog post announcing the launch, the Winklevoss twins stated that it was because time was needed to build the exchange based on four principles: product, security, licensing, and compliance.

The WInklevoss Gemini exchange emerges in New York state, amid BitLicense and increasing regulation on Bitcoin financial ventures. Credit: Gemini website screenshot

Due to this work, Gemini will boast a robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) program and a comprehensive security program. The exchange has also sought, and obtained, a license as a a New York state limited liability trust company, which gives the exchange a broad variety of powers under state law. The blog post also points out that BitLicense–New York’s special regulatory framework for bitcoin businesses–doesn’t convey fiduciary powers, which will set Gemini apart from other BitLicensed exchanges.

After launch, Gemini will operate in 26 U.S. states and Washington D.C., but the twins hope to expand the business quickly in the coming days.

The Winklevoss twins held a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) today and answered numerous questions about the service, catch up on it here.

Coin Fire reports federal investigation of Cryptsy

Coin Fire, a Bitcoin and cryptocurrency publication, has reported that federal investigations of Bitcoin exchange Cryptsy are underway–the report comes along with redacted documents “from various investigations” that Coin Fire also believes connects to the GAW Miners’ scandal as well as notorious scammer Josh Garza. Coin Fire claims investigations into Cryptsy from multiple organizations including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

This is not the first time Cryptsy has appeared on the radar for bad behavior, as the company had been served in a lawsuit during 2014 involving scorned customers.

“The earliest records in the cache against Crypsty contain minor investigations of wrong-doing and are dated prior to the larger investigation of Mr. Homero Joshua Garza and Mr. Carlos Garza,” writes Coin Fire about the documents; “however, the information discovered during the GAW Miners investigation caused lead investigators from multiple organizations to begin scrutinizing Crypsty and its parent company, Project Investors, more closely.”

The release of these reports by Coin Fire caught the attention of Cryptsy and the company did not take the allegations laying down.

“We have never been investigated for anything, period,” Cryptsy founder and CEO Paul “BigVern” Vernon wrote on the company’s blog. “We have never gotten any letters from any of the agencies that they have stated in their article, nor have we been contacted via phone or any other method. It’s safe to say that this article and their reporting are completely false. My guess is that whomever wrote this article has personal reasons for writing it and are attempting to hurt our business and reputation.”

Vernon then did an interview at NewsBTC to address the recent allegations and report from Coin Fire. In the interview Vernon talked about Cryptsy’s security and how the company reports to FinCen. He also responded, briefly, to the accusation of a connection between the company and GAW Miners by noting that his company had listed Paycoin (the cryptocurrency related to GAW) but no other connections exist.

U.S. Marshals to auction off 44,000 BTC remaining from Silk Road

The U.S. Marshals just announced the final auction of the remaining bitcoins seized from Ross Ulbricht aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the convicted administrator of the now shut down Silk Road deep web marketplace.

Registration for the auction begins Oct 9 and runs until Nov 2, and the auction will take place on Nov 5. The bitcoins are being offered in 22 blocks: 21 blocks of 2,000 bitcoins and 1 block of just over 2,341 bitcoins. The winning bidder(s) will be notified Nov. 6.

The total number of bitcoins, approximately 44,341 BTC is valued at approximately $10 million at the current market value of BTC or $248 USD per BTC.

This is the third auction in the series to be held by the U.S. Marshals. The first auction sold 29,656.51 bitcoins in July 2014 and the second sold 50,000 bitcoins in December of the same year.

Coinplug raises $5m in Series B funding

Bitcoin financial services company Coinplug, Inc. raised $5 million in Series B funding this week to expand its reach with Bitcoin blockchain-related technologies.

photo credit: Bitcoin IMG_1924 via photopin (license)

The company, founded in 2013, is based in South Korea and provides a variety of Bitcoin-related services from an exchange, a wallet service, a prepaid card (in Bitcoin), two-way ATMs and merchant processing. Coinplug also works with convenience retailer 7-11 to allow customers to purchase bitcoins over the counter at South Korean locations. The company also provides APIs that allow access to all of these services.

Coinplug expects expansion in the realm of blockchain-related technologies–the globally distributed, peer-to-peer ledger that underlies Bitcoin. The company is already working on blockchain-based authentication for the financial industry. Coinplug expects that patents on blockchain technologies will yield a potent market.

Including this round, Coinplug has raised $8.3 million to date.

Lionsgate to begin accepting Bitcoin at its company store

Lionsgate (Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation), a company best known for producing films, TV shows and video games, just announced a partnership with Bitcoin processing company GoCoin Pte. Ltd. Lionsgate expects to use this to allow customers to use bitcoins as payment at LionsgateShop.com for Lionsgate DVD and Blu-ray discs.

The Lionsgate company store offers a huge variety of DVDs and Blu-ray for sale — soon for bitcoins. Credit: Lionsgate store website.

“Whether they pay in dollars, francs or bitcoins, people are spending more money to watch content across more distribution platforms than ever before, and our goal is to offer them greater choice in what they watch, where they watch it, how they watch it and how they pay for it,” said Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns.  “Our acceptance of bitcoins at our online Company shop reflects our commitment to offer greater choice, convenience and accessibility to our next generation consumers.”

Lionsgate is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD revenue conversion rates. The company also handles a massive library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and TV titles, many of which are available through its online store. As a result, this move provides bitcoin-using customers a huge opportunity to use the currency to buy entertainment.

For examples, SciFi lovers could buy the first season of the Dresden Files for approximately 0.0651 BTC ($15.98) plus shipping and handling or anyone who just can’t get enough Adrian Paul could buy Alien Tracker for 0.0488 BTC ($11.98).

Featured image credit: via reddit member huevos_de_acero