Happy new year! I hope y’all are off to a better start with your 2015 resolutions than I am. It feels good to get back to the Bit…a full recharge and some good drafts are in queue to ensure the January here gets off to a better start than the BTC price chart.
I’m going to try my best to spark a sustained year-long rally by changing the Daily Bit (M-F) to the Nightly Bit (S-Th). Not only does it seems like a damn good a time to reverse the price curse, but a name change makes sense since I can’t remember the last time I got a post out before 6pm local time.
For today, there’s a lot of news to catch you up on, some job listings to check out, and a promo for an event in sunny Miami.
That’s right! I’ll be attending the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami Beach this Jan 16-18th in an attempt to beat the NYC cold for the long MLK weekend (sign-up link is below). But even as I and many others are making last minute travel arrangements for the trek down south, if you’re on reddit, twitter, or any type of crypto forum these days, you know there is a major controversy brewing in the background around one of the conference speakers, Josh Garza.
For the uninitiated, here’s the quick backstory:
Garza is the founder and CEO of GAW Miners and PayBase, fledgling start-ups that have made incredible claims about their size and growth — and somewhat predictably have come under fire from the larger, justifiably skeptical bitcoin community as a result. According to Garza, GAW Miners became the largest mining hardware distributor in the world this summer in less than one month following its launch and is on track to gross over $100mm in sales in its first full year. He also told the Wall Street Journal that GAW’s “hashlet” cloud mining contracts accounted for 50% of all new mining capacity. Incredible. Perhaps even in the literal “not credible” sense of the word, despite the WSJ team’s diligence on the story.
In November, Garza unveiled GAW’s grandiose plans to launch a new currency that would ostensibly replace bitcoin, called paycoin. With an expected initial market capitalization of $250 million, faster confirmation times, an Amazon partnership, and tools to minimize the currency’s volatility, paycoin became a lightning rod for debate. Ponzi, fraud, scam — those were the nice things that many people said about paycoin before its launch, with Garza himself taking heat from a vocal and angry contingent of the crypto community who believed he was the second coming of Mark Karpeles. Still, supporters remained and paycoin launched with a flurry of excitement in mid-December.
CoinDesk recounted the story behind the frenzy, but in the weeks since, Garza has fanned the flames even further. First, he reneged on a promise to use GAW Miners’ balance sheet to set a $20 floor on the paycoin price — they currently trade in the $4-5 dollar range — and later his dubious claim about PayBase’s “partnership” with Amazon was flat-out refuted by an actual Amazon spokesperson. To make things worse, the company and Garza have been deleting old contradictory tweets, heavily moderating its forum questions from skeptical users, and attacking critics, raising suspicions of a fraud.
One redditor compiled a good collection of the (let’s be generous) suspicious activity.
So it should come as no surprise that things appear to be coming to a head around Garza’s status as a keynote speaker at the Miami conference. PayBase is a premiere sponsor of the Miami conference alongside other well-known industry names like BitPay, Perkins Coie and Factom (TBI is a media sponsor), and some even called for an all-out boycott of the event. "The industry needs to self-police and tar and feather its own con artists when they emerge" and "we can’t afford a Mt. Gox redux and brand hit," seem to be the common sorts of refrains.
But I had a better idea, because I actually want to hear what Garza has to say to defend himself: let me do a 30 minute Q&A with him following his keynote two weeks from now.
After all, I’m just starting to dig into the story and have stayed neutral to date, so can hardly be called a hostile interrogator. But — and it’s a big caveat — I think everyone knows that after some research and some mental prep, I’d give Garza a fair, but potentially brutal grilling.
We’re still waiting to hear back from Garza on whether he’s willing to sit down with me, but if he does…
I’d buy your tickets now.
Events
The North American Bitcoin Conference, Miami, FL (January 16-18)
Winter doesn’t have to suck. It’s not too late to escape down to Florida for the second annual Miami Bitcoin conference this MLK weekend. Tickets are just $200, and this is the best Bitcoin or fintech conference you’ll be able to go to for months. Hope to see you there!
http://btcmiami.com/
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Bitnet, San Francisco, Belfast, London (VC-backed)
-Leading digital commerce platform & former Visa team.
-Open positions: Engineering (Customer Success, Lead UI, Product, DevOps), Sales Director (EMEA), Sales Engineer (San Francisco)
-Check out Bitnet (https://bitnet.io/careers.html) and email jobs@bitnet.io
Coinbase, San Francisco (VC-backed)
-Largest “universal services” bitcoin company.
-Open positions: Security Engineer, Software Engineer (2-3 years mobile product development), Regulatory Compliance Investigator, (1 year conducting SAR investigations)
-Check out Coinbase (https://www.coinbase.com/careers/)
BitGo, Palo Alto (VC-backed)
-The leading Bitcoin multi-sig security company
-Open positions: Back-end / Front-End / iOS / Security Engineers, UX Designer
-Check out BitGo (www.bitgoinc.com/jobs) and email jobs@bitgo.com
Bolt, San Francisco (VC-backed)
-Stealth startup focused on consumer applications of Bitcoin.
-Open positions: Security Engineer, Ruby Engineer, UI/UX Designer, Executive Assistant.
-Check out Bolt (bolt.com) and email jobs@bolt.com.
Elliptic, London (VC-backed)
-Vault and enterprise digital currency services.
-Open positions: Software engineers and business development gurus.
-Learn more and apply at elliptic.workable.com
Tonight’s Tid Bits
Missing Mt Gox Bitcoins Likely an Inside Job, Say Japanese Police
http://www.coindesk.com/missing-mt-gox-bitcoins-inside-job-japanese-police/
Japan’s Yomiuri Shumbun a popular newspaper, claims the disappearance of 99% of the bitcoins missing from Mt Gox can be blamed on internal system manipulation and not any external attack. The paper cited an unnamed source connected to the ongoing police investigation to confirm its acquisitions. The paper also claimed that only 7,000 BTC, or 1% of the total 650,000 missing bitcoins, could be attributed to hacking attacks from outside the company. No one in particular has been named as a suspect, even unofficially.
Bitcoin Bowl Merchants See Tech’s Big Picture, But Few Sales
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-bowl-merchants-see-techs-big-picture-sales/
The Bitcoin St Petersburg Bowl did not lead to an increase in bitcoin local sales or customer interest. CoinDesk surveyed more than 20 St. Petersburg merchants about their experience supporting the event; with a few exceptions, most did not record an increase in sales. Some stores did see a small sales spike on the day of the game. Overall, most merchants were enthusiastic about the benefits of bitcoin, but were put off by BitPay’s over the top promotion of the event.
2014 Will Be Bitcoin’s Auld Lang Syne, Someday
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/12/31/bitbeat-2014-will-be-bitcoins-auld-lang-syne-someday/
The end of 2014 did see a bitcoin price plunge ($315) compared to the end of 2013 ($757), but a number of large merchants have begun to accept the digital currency (Microsoft, Dell) and the amount of venture-capital money going toward bitcoin startups more than tripled in 2014 ($93m to $315m). Most enthusiasts are not worried about bitcoin’s price collapse, and remain optimistic about bitcoin’s technology and argue that the cryptocurrency is here to stay. 2014 may not have been the “Year of Bitcoin,” but it did gain a certain level of mainstream acceptance.
PayCoin Trolled by Crypto-Extremists; Value Drops
http://newsbtc.com/2015/01/01/paycoin-trolled-crypto-extremists-value-drops/
PayCoin, a new cryptocurrency backed by GAW Miners, has taken a notable price plunge after being trolled by crypto-extremists on various social media channels. The cryptocurrency launched on December 12th, and over the last 24 hours, it has been crashing. GAW Miners is still facing allegations of being a “scam,” and is facing lots of criticism from Reddit users.
BitMEX to Launch Bitcoin ‘Fear’ Index
http://www.coindesk.com/bitmex-launch-bitcoin-fear-index/
BitMEX, a bitcoin derivatives exchange, will publish an index of January 5th that it hopes will act like the bitcoin world’s version of the VIX, the so-called ‘fear index’ that is used to gauge uncertainty in the wider financial markets. The 30-Day Bitcoin Historic Volatillity Index, works by taking the time-weighted average price from Bitfinex’s USD/BTC rate then calculates bitcoin’s annualized volatility over a rolling 30-day period using that data. The result is a measure of bitcoin’s realized volatility for that 30-day period. BitMEX has also created a tradable instruments based on its new index, and will offer a futures contact quoted in volatility percentage points.
Green Man Gaming Now Accepts Bitcoin
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113228/green-man-gaming-now-accepts-bitcoin
Last month, Green Man Gaming quietly began accepting bitcoin. Green Man Gaming is an established, mainstream DRM reseller that offers impressive deals. It is not yet clear what payment processor Green Man Gaming is using.
Microsoft: Bitcoin Regulation Will Influence Expansion Plans
http://www.coindesk.com/microsoft-bitcoin-regulation-future-plans/
Following Microsoft’s decision to partner with BitPay and accept bitcoin as a payment option for digital goods, the global tech giant declared that it would be waiting for bitcoin’s legal status to be clarified before it makes any additional movements in the space. The company formally stated, “Whatever we might do, we will do it in a smart way to ensure we meet our customers’ needs while respecting local laws and regulations.”
Will 2015 Be Bitcoin’s Year?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102301308#.
Most enthusiasts predicted 2014 to be bitcoin’s coming-out party, but the currency lost more than 70% of its value from the previous year’s high. Now most are focusing on 2015 as the year that will legitimatize and stabilize the digital currency, due to impending government regulation. While 2014 did see a decline in bitcoin’s value, consumer adoption did increase, and positive steps toward regulation were made.
Bitreserve Raises $9.5 Million in Second Largest Crowdfunding Round in the Digital Currency Sector
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113217/bitreserve-raises-us95-million-in-second-largest-crowdfunding-round-in-the-digital-currency-sector
Bitreserve, a digital currency wallet and exchange service, has raised $9.5 million in a public Series-B investment round. Bitreserve aims to allow its users to hold their money in fiat currency reserves by default, instead of in cryptocurrency, in an attempt to overcome consumer hesitance in the digital currency field.
Josh Garza Speaks on Paybase Launch With Amazon Shopping Using Paycoin
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/josh-garza-speaks-paybase-launch-amazon-shopping-using-paycoin/
GAWMiners, founded by Josh Garza, launched PayCoin its only digital currency, and will now be launching PayBase, a platform for trading PayCoin. CryptoCoinsNews talked with Garza about PayBase’s integration with Amazon, PayBase’s launch, and the controversy surrounding GAWMiners.
Has China Abandoned Bitcoin?
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113221/has-china-abandoned-bitcoin
While China continues to be Bitcoin’s leading trading marketplace in terms of volume, recently this trend has started to fade. Mainly because Chinese investors are recognizing other asset classes that are outperforming Bitcoin. Simply put, money flows to where money can be made, and this past year it has not been with bitcoin.
NYC Weighs Bitcoin, Apple Pay for Parking Tickets
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nyc-weighs-bitcoin-apple-pay-for-parking-tickets-2014-12-30
New York City’s finance department is looking into alternative payment methods such as Apple Pay, PayPal, and bitcoin for the roughly $30 billion in parking ticket revenue it collects annually. Currently, drivers can pay for tickets online (where credit and debit card payments are subject to a 2.5% fee), via mail or in person at the courthouse. However, as of now, not set plans are in place.
OKCoin Now Offers P2P Lending to International Users
http://www.coindesk.com/okcoin-offers-p2p-lending-international-users/
OKCoin.com has introduced an international peer-to-peer (P2P) lending system in hopes to increase liquidity on its spot market and provide low-risk interest return for users willing to loan bitcoins to traders. Traders will now have the option to choose loans at preferred interest rates, and will be able to leverage up to 3x. OKCoin.com is the international arm of China’s OKCoin, which already has a P2P lending feature.
Bitcoin Bowl Builds It, But Will They Come?
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/12/29/bitbeat-bitcoin-bowl-builds-it-but-will-they-come/
The inaugural Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl took place last Friday, as bitcoin enthusiasts and college football fans traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to watch North Carolina State beat University of Central Florida. More than 100 merchants in the area were accepting bitcoin, tickets for the game could be purchased in bitcoin, but will bitcoin’s acceptance grow among consumers? BitPay, who bought the naming rights of the bowl through a three-year sponsorship, certainly hopes so.
The Next Chapter in the Bitcoin Story
http://fortune.com/2014/12/29/the-next-chapter-in-the-bitcoin-story/
As we’ve heard before, the real power of bitcoin is not in the currency itself, but the protocol that makes it work. The blockchain. Bitcoin’s blockchain is a public ledger where every transaction is recorded, which allows for exchanges to take place without the middleman. The blockchain can also be used to store documents securely, or even validate ones online identify. Our own Ryan Selkis even theorizes, “Every time you’re running low on printer ink, it could notify the block chain and send you more.” 2015 could see a new kind of Bitcoin boom.
India Soon To Be A Cashless Society, Says Governor
http://newsbtc.com/2014/12/29/india-soon-cashless-society-says-governor/
Raghuram Rajan, governor of the reserve bank of India, appears to strongly support bitcoin adoption in India saying, “We will be moving towards primarily a cashless society and we’ll have some kind of currencies like this [bitcoin] which will be at work.” Bitcoin was quickly regulated in India in 2013, but the future for the digital currency in India does look a little brighter.
Stripe Updates Bitcoin Payments Advice, Will Go Live in January
http://www.coindesk.com/stripe-updates-bitcoin-payments-advice-will-go-live-january/
Stripe, an online payments solutions provider updated its advice for setting up its service to accept bitcoin, saying the feature is set to come out of beta in January 2015 with a fee of 0.5% per transaction. Stripe has not announced whether it has formed a partnership with any existing bitcoin companies to process the transactions. Stripe allows businesses to accept credit card payments easily via the web or mobile devices.
The 10 Most Influential People in Bitcoin This Year
http://www.coindesk.com/10-influential-people-bitcoin-year/
Coindesk created a list of bitcoin’s most influential people this past week. These influencers helped spread awareness and build confidence in the digital currency industry, despite some having an impact on bitcoin for the wrong reasons. From bottom to top the list is as follows: Marc Andreessen, Ross Ulbricht, Roger Ver, Ben Lawsky, Vitalik Buterin, Gavin Andresen, Satoshi Nakamoto, Tim Draper, Mark Karpeles, and Andreas Antonopoulos.
Canadian Startup BitGold Closes $3.5 Million Funding Round
http://www.coindesk.com/canadian-startup-bitgold-closes-3-5-million-series-funding-round/
BitGold, a Canadian digital currency startup, has successfully closed a $3.5m Series A funding round. Major participants included PowerOne Capital, Soros Brothers Investments, Sandstorm Gold and PortVesta Holdings. BitGold offers a consumer-focused Internet platform for global blockchain payments, alongside access to secure and redeemable gold for savings.
Circle’s Wishlist for Bitcoin Regulation in 2015
http://www.coindesk.com/circles-wishlist-bitcoin-regulation-2014/
John Beccia, CCO for Circle made a wish list for regulators focused on bitcoin in 2015. 2015 should see the completion of the Fourth Money Laundering Directive in the EU, a potential bitcoin ban in Russia and the conclusion of a key case pending on the value-added tax (VAT) treatment of digital currency in the EU. Beccia calls for a balanced view, a regulation of biggest risks only, a framework of creative thinking, a clarity for banking relationships, coordination and collaboration, and additional tax guidance.
Safello Co-Founder Moves to Tokyo to Start New Bitcoin Security Firm
http://www.coindesk.com/safello-co-founder-moves-tokyo-start-new-bitcoin-security-firm/
Emil Oldenburg, the co-founder of Swedish exchange Safello has left the company to join WizSec, a new Tokyo-based consulting firm. WizSec will be performing the unofficial analysis of Gox’s transaction records. Oldeburg will remain a shareholder in Safello, but hopes to be working more security-related jobs for clients involving audits and pen-testing in Japan.
BitPay Airs First TV Bitcoin Commercials on ESPN #BitcoinBowl
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitpay-airs-first-bitcoin-commercials-on-espn-bitcoinbowl/
The Bitcoin Bowl this past week between UCF and NC State featured three commercials from BitPay, the main sponsor of the bowl game. BitPay Chairman Tony Gallippi and CEO Stephen Pair introduced the game and their company to the national audience; the game also featured two other humorous BitPay commercials. #BitcoinBowl also became a trending hash tag of Twitter, mostly due to the tipping that resulted from tweeting the hashtag.
Coinbase is Tracking How Users Spend Their Bitcoins
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113207/coinbase-is-tracking-how-users-spend-their-bitcoins
Coinbase has been tracking what their customers are buying with Bitcoin and closing any accounts involved in transactions that the company objects to. For example, Coinbase has been banning user accouts that send Bitcoin to gambling sites, despite online gambling not being illegal. Coinbase defends itself, saying the company is only trying to stay in compliance with federal anti-money laundering regulations and drug laws.
Have a tip or feedback? Email me! (2bitidiot@gmail.com)