Recapping the week’s biggest Bitcoins stories from around the web.
British authorities are in favor of the digital currency in view of upgrading the current financial system. As Sarah Jenn of NewsBtc writes, in spite of the UK government’s intention to regulate the bitcoin, there are bitcoin devotees, who would love to see London becoming a bitcoin hub. In this context, suggested regulations should be formulated with an aim to avert the use of the digital currency in fraudulent activities.
Child pornography becomes the focus of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). As Maria Santos of 99bitcoins writes, numerous child sexual abuse websites accept the digital currency as a legal form of payment. IWF seeks to work closely with major bitcoin exchanges around the globe in order to implement strategies against sexual child abuse and prevent the use of the bitcoin for the circulation of sexual child abusematerial online.
Major U.S. charities are accepting contributions in bitcoins due to lower transaction costs. As Elliot Maras of CryptoCoins News writes, American Red Cross, Greenpeace and Save the Children, all allow bitcoin contributions via partnerships with BitPay or other payment processing platforms. This is expected to spread the use of the bitcoin further.
Regulation
SecondMarket re-launches as Genesis Trading. Jason Smith of CoinBuzz reports that Genesis Trading is Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group’s (DCG) subsidiary and seeks to operate as the first regulated broker-dealer with a specialization in digital currencies. Given that the company has an established presence in the cryptocurrency space as “the largest over-the-counter (OTC) market maker there is an opportunity to market ourselves to the world”, Brendan O’Connor, Genesis CEO states.
Bitcoin Foundation Director seeks for fiscal reform. As Pete Rizzo of CoinDesk reports, Bruce Fenton is looking to serve as a facilitator between the Foundation’s individual and institutional members. Part of Fenton’s focus is to change the Foundation policies in order to educate the public about the bitcoin. “The Bitcoin Foundation can and will have a valuable role in that process in terms of being an important part of our industry,” he states.
Payments
Tether enters a partnership with cryptocurrency payment processor GoCoin. Jp Buntinx of Bitcoinist reports that the partnership is expected to facilitate the transactions of GoCoin merchants in digital currencies as the settlement will be swiftly made through the Tether platform without the need of a financial intermediary. Tether also serves as a protection towards the bitcoin volatility as it exchanges bitcoin for fiat currency on a 1:1 ratio.
Samsung is interested in the cryptocurrency technology. Olga Kharif of Bloomberg reports that Samsung Research America is working with IBM to explore ways on how to effectively use the bitcoin technology for new applications. According to Samsung’s Director of Strategy, Steven Rahman,
“Currency, it’s just the first use case. You could imagine that anything, like prescriptions, could be managed with the blockchain technology.”
Dorchester Collection is accepting bitcoins for its web store.According to Hotel Industry Magazine, the digital shopping platform of the London-based world renowned hotel is a pioneer move in the luxury hospitality industry. Customers are able to navigate in the web store and select items of their preference. In checkout, they can pay in bitcoins.
QuadrigaCX, the leading Canadian-based bitcoin exchange seeks to install bitcoin ATMs across Canada. Nikhil Gupta of NewsBtc reports that the ATM machines will be gradually installed in batches of five, starting early June from Vancouver. Their operation will be made via the QuadrigaCX platform allowing users to deposit and withdraw funds from their QuadrigaCX balances. The move will possibly lead to a massive expansion of the bitcoin use in the country.
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The post Bitcoin News Roundup – 18 Apr. 2015 appeared first on Deep Dot Web.