Late edition tonight because I know I need to satisfy your collective hunger for a post that is two days overdue.
[Please note, I haven’t edited this post, so apologies for typos or anything that is unclear.]
For a moment, let’s forget about the hemorrhaging bitcoin price, and focus on another blockchain-based technology, Ethereum and its central role in the internet of things (IoT) proof-of-concept unveiled by IBM (in collaboration with Samsung) at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas last week.
Back in September, IBM published a paper on “device democracy”, outlining its thoughts on why it was essential to reimagine the entire communications backbone to the IoT. (I wrote about why it was such a big deal at the time, even though the news flew a bit under the radar.) The research team noted that the tech strategy, business models and design thinking around the early IoT are all unsustainable — either due to their costs, privacy shortcomings, lack of function, or unviable economic model. They then did their thing, and concocted something that would be cheap to implement, functional, and private by design. That proof-of-concept was finally on display at CES last week. (At least, I think so; haven’t seen any pics or videos yet.)
The result meshed Telehash’s trustless, peer-to-peer messaging system, BitTorrent’s distributed cloud, and Ethereum’s blockchain. Adept allowed users to set rules for their devices (if this Samsung smart washing machine runs out of detergent - order more with my card on file at Amazon); for those devices to act autonomously and share resources (during peak energy times the washer could talk to the TV during peak viewing hours and decide to hold off on a wash cycle until electricity demand subsided and its cost declined); and for the device manufacturers to transfer the maintenance responsibilities to the devices themselves (discover a failing part and the washer could check the blockchain to see if the part was covered under warranty and schedule a service call).
Pretty cool shit, and seemed to have hit the bid in terms of the team’s goal to “liquify the IoT world.”
Adept relies on three levels of connected devices in its hierarchy: “light peers”, which contain chips with mere wallet addresses, but no blockchain data; “standard peers” which hold some blockchain info, like the relevant recent transactions of that device and data from its nearby light peers; and peer exchanges, high-end devices owned by enterprised that operate marketplaces, which facilitate transactions between the devices.
Notably, the IBM team hinted that these type of marketplaces and smart contracts require a crypto-currency with a scripting language and whose blockchain relies on a combination of proof-of-work and proof-of-stake. Without these things, it would be prohibitively expensive to process transactions between devices and the entire project would seem to fail.
Point Ethereum.
That said, the researchers did note that scalability and stability remained an issue for all blockchain-based currencies, and until Ethereum’s (or any other) blockchain reached a critical mass, it would, unsurprisingly, be unable to support the billions of connected devices expected to proliferate in the IoT this decade.
Go read the white paper here, oh geeks and idiots, and let your minds run wild with some of the potential applications…
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. The Chamber of Digital Commerce is also hosting a “Regulatory Hackathon” at the Miami event, an AML compliance bootcamp focused on how to establish and keep banking relationships as a digital currency venture. 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
Today’s Tid Bits
Bitcoin Price Crashes Through $250 Mark
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-price-crashes-250-mark/
Today, bitcoin’s price opened up the day at $267.08, but quickly fell about just two hours of trading. As sell orders pile up at major exchanges, the bitcoin price currently sits around $235.
Selling pressure is piling up on recently revived Bitstamp, which has been offline for our days following a security breach. Bitcoin enthusiasts continue to reassure themselves that it’s the underlying technology, not just the price that matters.
Bitcoin App Enables Cash Withdrawals at 10,000 Spanish ATMs
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-app-enables-cash-withdrawals-10000-spanish-atms/
Bit2Me, a Spanish startup, has launched an app that enables its users to convert bitcoin into euros at more than 10,000 ATMs across Spain. The app taps the existing ATM infrastructure using a bank service that allows users to send money to any mobile phone to be withdrawn from an ATM. Bit2Me handles the fiat currency conversion. Bit2Me also plans to expand the service aboard, by hooking up 15,000 ATMs in Mexico to the network.
Bitreserve Raises $9.6 Million in Crowdfunding Campaign
http://www.coindesk.com/bitreserve-beats-crowdfunding-target-net-9-4-million/
Bitreserve, a bitcoin storage platform, successfully crowdfunded $9,620,802 after 157 investors bought 11.27% of the equity offered in the company. The funding will be used to expand its engineering team, increase corporate hiring and support its international expansion.
Weak Bitcoin Value Forces CEX.IO to Suspend Cloud Mining Services
http://newsbtc.com/2015/01/12/weak-bitcoin-values-force-cex-io-suspend-cloud-mining-services/
CEX.IO, a leading bitcoin exchange and cloud mining service provider, has temporarily suspended its cloud mining services due to the drastic drop in bitcoin’s price in the past weeks. Increasing mining difficulty coupled with a low price, made the company’s mining unprofitable. CEX.IO will continue its bitcoin exchange platform operations for the time being.
Russian Authorities Blacklist 5 Bitcoin-Related Websites
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113293/russian-authorities-blacklist-5-bitcoin-related-websites
Russia’s Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications has blacklisted five Bitcoin-related websites. Including bitcoin.org, bitcoin.it, bitsec.com, coinspot.io, and indacoin.com. The exact reason as why these websites have been targeted has not yet been revealed. Due to Russia’s concerns about the cryptocurrency facilitating crime, officials have threatened to use legal action against miners, exchanges, and have now blocked these websites.
In Search of Bitcoin at CES
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/11/in-search-of-bitcoin-at-ces/
Despite Bitstamp’s $5million dollar hack last week, the bitcoin industry still showed up strong to the CES show in Las Vegas. Most at the show believe that bitcoin holds a lot of promise, but stability remains elusive. Circle, Bitpay, Robocoin and Kraken were all present at CES 2015.
Webush Securities is Hiring a Bitcoin Director
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/wedbush-securities-hiring-bitcoin-director/
Wedbush Securities, a large investment bank and brokerage firm, is looking to hire a Bitcoin director to oversee all aspects of bitcoin transactions within the firm. Wedbush Securities acquired holdings in the Buttercoin Bitcoin exchange last year, and is looking to further expand their stake in the bitcoin industry.
What It Took to Bring Bitcoin to 5,000 Taiwan Convenience Stores
http://www.coindesk.com/took-bring-bitcoin-5000-taiwan-convenience-stores/
This past year, BitoEX, a Taiwanese bitcoin exchange, managed to launch an operational bitcoin-purchasing service in over 5,000 convenience stores throughout Taiwan. The company was founded on its founders’ own capital, along with a few angel investors, with a total of $2.5m raised so far. The main hurdles according to the exchange were overcoming lack of knowledge about bitcoin and local regulatory fears among mainstream businesses.
New Silk Road Website Launched, Accepting Altcoin Payments
http://newsbtc.com/2015/01/11/reddcoin-developers-blackmailed-ex-member/
Yet another version of the online drug marketplace Silk Road, Silk Road Reloaded, has been recently launched. The new Silk Road’s introduction quickly follows the death of its predecessor Silk Road 2. The new site allows consumers to pay via a series of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, and several others. Silk Road is once again offering a range of illegal goods from drugs to hacking tools.
“Don’t Complain…You Didn’t Bother to Speak Up:” Ross Ulbricht Trial Begins
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113283/dont-complainyou-didnt-bother-to-speak-up-ross-ulbricht-trial-begins
Tomorrow, the alleged operator of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht will stand trial on charges ranging from drug trafficking to money laundering to running a criminal enterprise. The trial is expected to take about one month, and has already received lots of attention from “internet freedom” supporters. However, leading up to the trial it is clear that the odds are stacked up against Ulbricht.
Interview with Patrick Byrne
http://cointelegraph.com/news/113281/patrick-byrne-medici-will-be-a-national-market-system-compliant-and-able-to-trade-everything
CoinTelegraph caught up Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock, to discuss his company’s new projects including Medici, a crypto-security application. Byrne pointed out that he has been sought out by lots of Wall Street “spies” following the crypto-revolution, which he believes will disrupt the industry soon. Medici will operate as a technology platform, which would allow companies to issue a crypto-security, and eventually their own crypto-coin.
Tidbit to Launch Bitcoin Tipping Tool for Publishers
http://www.coindesk.com/tibdit-launch-bitcoin-tipping-tool-publishers/
Tidbit, a London-based startup, is officially launching its new service on January 19th, allowing online content publishers to collect bitcoin micropayments through a WordPress website plug-in. Payments to Tidbit can be made in bitcoin or with a debit or credit card, but must be collected in bitcoin. Tidbit charges 1.5 pence per transactions for its service. The service was created to benefit bloggers, forums, reviewers, news sites and artists.
Analysis: Bitstamp Hacker Almost Stole Additional $1.75 Million
http://www.coindesk.com/analysis-bitstamp-hacker-stolen-additional-1-75-million/
According to a blockchain analysis by an independent research, Bitstamp narrowly avoided losing an additional $1.75m in bitcoin during its recent hack. During the he final hours of the $5.1m heist, Bitstamp quickly moved $1.75m to a cold storage address. The hack started on January 4th, when 3,100 BTC was transferred in to the theft wallet and funds continued to be moved for the next 16 hours, and by 4pm the balance was over 6,000 coins.
Sparkasse Bank Blocks All Bitcoin Related Bank Transfers
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/sparkasse-bank-blocks-bitcoin-related-bank-transfers/
Sparkasse, a German bank is blocking any incoming and outgoing bank transfers related to bitcoin. Sparkasse has been refunding all money transfers to users if they even suspect it has something to do with cryptocurrency. European bitcoin companies continue to struggle to secure bitcoin banking partners, as Sparkasse has joined the fight against the digital currency.
Voices: David Berger, on Educating Wealth Advisers About Bitcoin
http://www.wsj.com/articles/voices-david-berger-on-educating-financial-advisers-about-bitcoin-1420816295
David Berger, on a WSJ column directed at wealth managers, advises wealth advisers that lots goes in to bitcoin including the underlying technology, security, its utilization, and its volatility. Berger points out that alternative bitcoin investment products, such as a pending ETF, are expected to be publically listed in 2015. Overall, bitcoin investments remain part of the high-risk allocation in a portfolio.
Overstock.com to Offer Staff Option of Being Paid in Bitcoin
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/overstockcom-to-offer-staff-option-of-being-paid-in-bitcoin-2015-01-09?link=MW_home_latest_news
Today, Overstock.com announced that is it planning to offer its employees the option of being paid in bitcoin, and that a Bitcoin ATM is being installed at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Since January of 2014 Overstock has been accepting bitcoin as a form of payment, and has collected $3 million worth of purchases with bitcoin since then.
Have a tip or feedback? Email me! (2bitidiot@gmail.com)