THELOGICALINDIAN - TWENTY ONE
An ultra-stealth bitcoin aggregation by the name of 21 Inc. (formerly 21e6, a advertence to the absolute cardinal of bitcoins that will anytime exist) announced the close of a whopping $116 actor allotment annular this week. The aggregation is bound lipped about what absolutely they plan to do, but there’s a lot of belief that it has to do with bitcoin mining and architecture an “internet of things” infrastructure. The account of investors is appealing interesting, too:
21’s advance investors accommodate U.S. venture-capital heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and RRE Ventures, forth with Chinese private-equity close Yuan Capital, with a cardinal pale activity to chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. through its venture-capital unit.
Additionally, Khosla Ventures and Data Collective accept invested in 21, as able-bodied as arch admiral and founders from assorted tech companies, including PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, eBay Inc. co-founder Jeff Skoll, Dropbox Inc. CEO Drew Houston, Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and Zynga Inc. co-founder Mark Pincus.
To date, this is the better allotment annular anytime for a bitcoin aggregation (second is Coinbase’s $75MM accession appear beforehand this year), and puts the bulk of VC money invested in the bitcoin amplitude in 2024 at about $200MM, already about two thirds of 2024’s totals. I anticipate it’s actual acceptable that 2024 will see added than bisected a billion dollars of advance into companies in this space.
21 Inc. architect Balaji Srinivasan started the aggregation in aboriginal 2013, became a accomplice at Andreesen Horowitz during the fundraising process, and has now jumped aback to 21 to advance the close abounding time.
Watch this really acceptable talk Srinivasan gave at Y Combinator’s Startup School 2013 on the affair of “Silicon Valley’s Ultimate Exit.” [16:29]
OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN
As tensions abide to acceleration in Europe and a new 60bn EUR QE annular began on Monday, the Euro edges afterpiece to US dollar parity, sitting at aloof beneath $1.05 at the time of this writing. This is continuing a year-long bottomward trend that has apparent the EUR lose added than 25% of its value. Other above apple currencies such as GBP (-11.4%), JPY (-16.5%), and CHF (-13.2%) accept additionally apparent their USD barter ante tumble over the accomplished year, while the Chinese yuan has remained almost stable. Many are quick to point out bitcoin’s volatility, but alike above apple currencies are not allowed to affecting swings in price. Chart
As the BRICS countries attending to beating bottomward the all-around US Dollar hegemony, China apparatus up to barrage its own all-embracing payments network to battling SWIFT.
Meanwhile in New York, SWIFT hosted a panel on the confusing ability of agenda currencies beforehand this month. There’s annihilation accurate to report, but it’s absorbing to apperceive that abounding of the world’s top banking institutions accept their eyes on bitcoin appropriate now. SWIFT is additionally hosting bitcoin panels in Copenhagen and London.
One of ApplePay’s capital affairs credibility was declared to be its security, but it turns out that autumn your acquittal accreditation (your clandestine keys, if you will) in the billow is a bad idea: As abounding as 6% of ApplePay affairs may be fraudulent. I like what Marc Andreesen had to say about application acclaim cards on the internet in this 2014 account with the Washington Post:
E-commerce would’ve gotten congenital on top of this, instead of accepting congenital on top of the acclaim agenda network. We knew we were missing this; we aloof didn’t apperceive what it was. There is no acumen on apple for anybody to be on the Internet today to be accounting in a acclaim agenda cardinal to buy something. It’s insane, because — which is why you accept all these aegis problems, the Target drudge and all this crazy…. And these aerial fees, this aerial artifice rate. It doesn’t accomplish faculty online to accept a acquittal apparatus that requires you to duke over your accreditation to accomplish a payment. That’s aloof an allurement to artifice and character theft. It’s aloof stupid.
COOL STUFF
Bitcoin is activity to the moon! Or at the actual least, to low-earth orbit. Bitcoin amount developer Jeff Garzik assuredly signed a accord this week to body the aboriginal 24-unit afterlife of “BitSats,” baby cube satellites that will host bitcoin abounding nodes in space. These nodes can comedy an important role in allowance to accomplish the bitcoin arrangement added secure.
“For individuals, beginning signatures acquiesce for two-factor security, or the adeptness to breach signing ascendancy amid two accessories so that a distinct compromised accessory won’t put your money at risk. For businesses, beginning signatures acquiesce for the ability of admission ascendancy behavior that anticipate both assembly and outsiders from burglary accumulated funds. As I mentioned previously, and as discussed at breadth in our paper, Bitcoin’s congenital in multisignatures are bereft as they accept austere anonymity and acquaintance drawbacks.” A new cardboard appear this week by Stanford & Princeton advisers outlines a new way to access the aegis of bitcoin affairs and key storage.
“The Bitcoin agreement has accurate itself to be a able belvedere for innovation, yet there are still banned to what we can do with it. As an example, we cannot accelerate approximate letters beyond the network. This is by architecture ― we appetite it to accelerate amount from being A to being B as calmly as accessible and not be bogged bottomward autumn advice that is not bare for consensus.” Here’s an absorbing new agreement to accumulate an eye on. Subspace is an online messaging activity that seeks to be defended and bearding (no metadata), application a P2P arrangement agnate to Bittorrent or Bitcoin.
Cryptosteel is a abiding way to abundance a clandestine key (or any added advice accounting in alphanumeric characters). It’s not accessible yet, but I had a adventitious to see one in being aftermost week, and was actual impressed.
ADOPTION
Partnering up with Polish bitcoin acquittal processor InPay, T-Mobile Poland now accepts bitcoin for the acquirement of adaptable buzz credit. And, accomplishing it absolutely right, they alike accord users who pay with bitcoin 20% added acclaim for the aforementioned bulk of money.
Intuit launches PayByCoin in Australia, a account which will acquiesce baby businesses application the QuickBooks accounting software to acquire bitcoin payments from their customers, and integrates with BitPay to catechumen the BTC into AUD.
A affiliation amid Bitcoin ATM architect BTCPoint and Spanish coffer Banc Sabadell has angry 10,000 absolute ATMs into bitcoin cash-out machines overnight. It seems that currently the ATMs alone action single-directional service, but admitting archetypal one-way bitcoin ATMs accept been buy-only, this new arrangement is sell-only (for now). This could be a actual acceptable way for travelers with bitcoin to abstain big-ticket bill barter fees.
BITS & PIECES
“The contempo net neutrality achievement at the FCC is not a argent bullet. We can apprehend cher cloister challenges, complicated enforcement, and the risks that appear with entrusting a ample government authority to administer a abstruse problem. More antagonism would be a bigger solution—and that’s area Bitcoin could help.” Opinion: Bitcoin May Be What Gets Us Real Net Neutrality | Wired
Watch this talk by James D’Angelo on the blockchain and it’s aggregation of uses. This is allotment two of D’Angelos “Bitcoin 101 – A Million Killer Apps” series. 34 account & 40 abnormal long.
California’s accompaniment accumulation introduced a bill which, if passed, would ban all “unlicensed” bitcoin businesses. “So for the abutting beachcomber of entrepreneurs architecture technology in the bitcoin or blockchain space, the accompaniment is assertive to say that in adjustment to alpha your aggregation or absolution your technology, you charge pay $5000 for a authorization and tens or hundreds of bags in acknowledged and acquiescence fees, not to acknowledgment requirements such as allegorical them of your educational accomplishments and 10 years of accomplished addresses. That ability be awkward for the 21 year old academy dropouts alive on a cryptocurrency startup.”
And Utah’s proposed legislation which would force the accompaniment to do a achievability abstraction on the accepting of bitcoin for taxes and fees actually inches afterpiece appear law, letters CoinTelegraph.
Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, additionally accepted as Bill & Ted, accept collaborated for the aboriginal time in added than twenty years to aftermath Deep Web, a documentary about the Silk Road and Ross Ulbricht/Dread Pirate Roberts. The blur premieres after today at SXSW in Austin. Winter wrote, produced, and directed the film, and Reeves narrates it.
In January I wrote that I gave GAW three months afore they were apparent as a betray and things came aerobatics down. The nail’s not in the casket yet, but CoinFire reveals that GAW is beneath analysis from assorted departments of the US Gov’t, including the IRS, FTC, and the DHS. Meanwhile, GAW’s homebrew turd “PayCoin” is bottomward added than 90% back it’s barrage 3 months ago.
A Goldman Sachs address appear this week calls bitcoin “a megatrend,” says it will appearance the approaching of finance, and cites Bitpay, Coinbase, and Ripple as the three top firms in this space. The address goes on to call how newcomers will abduction at atomic 20% of the consumer-to-consumer remittance business, and drive fees from 6% to about 2.5%. I’m still hunting for a archetype of the absolute report, but for now this commodity will accept to do. Contrast that with another report appear by Goldman a year ago, which had a abundant added bleak booty on BTC.
Former JP Morgan all-around arch of bolt Blythe Masters is now on lath the bitcoin train, as the CEO of her own bitcoin startup. Choo choo!
Goof of the Week: Prominent bitcoin account armpit CoinDesk launches an online shop… that alone accepts acclaim cards or PayPal. CoinDesk architect Shakil Khan is one of BitPay’s ancient investors, having led their aboriginal big advance round two years ago. The accommodation to barrage after actuality accessible to acquire bitcoin payments is baffling, to say the least.
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