Welcome to Bitcoin Examiner’s new weekly round up featuring the most important news from the past seven days.
Buy art with cryptocurrency at Cointemporary
The art lovers/Bitcoiners out there have a new online place that suits all their needs. Cointemporary claims to be the first online art gallery to work exclusively with cryptocurrency.
The platform, described as a “temporary online exhibition of art for Bitcoin”, showcases the work of international artists. However, instead of featuring all the artwork in the same place, Cointemporary chooses to display the artwork of only one artist every seven days.
Second Market outbid in US Marshals Bitcoin auction
Second Market, one of the more prominent bidders in the US Marshals Bitcoin auction, said it was outbid in its attempts to buy some of the nearly 30,000 coins sold late last week.
The rejection of one of the biggest names in the Bitcoin industry is a potentially encouraging sign for the long-term prospects of the cryptocurrency because this means the auction drew a lot of interest from other institutional investors.
The US Marshals Service recently auctioned off about 30,000 BTC seized during a raid on Silk Road, an Internet black-market bazaar where authorities say illegal drugs and other goods could be bought. The Marshals Service said it was notifying winners on Monday evening.
Expresscoin makes it easier to buy Bitcoin in Canada
The online Bitcoin platform Expresscoin is announcing the expansion of its services into Canada through DebitWay, a recognized leader in debit card services that accepts all issued bank cards using the most popular banking networks.
The partnership allows Expresscoin to guarantee “fast and secure transactions” to its customers, thanks toDebitway’s merchant service called INTERAC Online Payment, which allow consumers to pay for goods and services online using their own bank account in real time.
Winklevoss Bitcoin ETF to trade on NASDAQ under ‘COIN’ symbol
The Winklevoss twins have filed an amended Form S-1 with the SEC. The minor update reveals a few new facts about the Winklevoss exchange traded fund (ETF). So far Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have updated their ETF filing four times. The process of registering an ETF is painstakingly slow: the twins originally filed for an investment fund a year ago, on 1st July 2013.
According to the latest filing, shares in the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust will trade on the NASDAQ OMX under the symbol ‘COIN’. There are a number of cosmetic changes too.
Newegg’s new Bitcoin payment option available to 25 million users
Newegg, the leading electronics e-retailer in the United States, just stepped up its game by partnering with the payment processor BitPay to start accepting Bitcoin. After hinting at the possibility more than once in the past, the major electronic retailer finally decided to accept the world’s most famous cryptocurrency.
Starting this week, the company’s more than 25 million registered customers can buy one of the 10.5 million products sold by Newegg using their BTC savings.
Overstock dangles rewards for Bitcoin-friendly vendors
Overstock hopes to encourage Bitcoin use with a range of incentives for vendors who decide to accept payments in the digital currency. Speaking in a podcast at the libertarian Porcupine Freedom Festival, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne said, “we’re going to start giving sort of special deals to the vendors who want to be paid in Bitcoin”.
This could mean offering discounts and favourable terms to vendors selling through the Overstock platform if they start to accept bitcoin, he indicated, adding that the company may also reward those who already accept the digital currency.
Russia considers regulating Bitcoin to avoid crypto-crime escalade
The Central Bank of Russia announced this week that the institution might take the next step andregulate digital currencies in the near future to guarantee that the misuse of Bitcoin and other altcoins is punished in the country.
Georgy Luntovsky, the bank’s first deputy chairman, admitted that “one shouldn’t reject these instruments,perhaps they really have a future, but in our country the criminal world immediately starts to use everything new”.
EU Banks must shun Bitcoin until rules in place, EBA says
The European Commission signaled it will try to impose rules on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin after the bloc’s banking regulator ordered lenders to shun them. “It’s imperative to move quickly on this issue”. Chantal Hughes, a spokeswoman for Financial Services Commissioner Michel Barnier, said by email this week. “The potential for money laundering and terrorist financing is too serious to ignore”.
The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, moved after the European Banking Authority said banks shouldn’t buy, hold or sell virtual currencies until regulators develop safeguards to protect their integrity. The watchdog identified more than 70 risks linked to the currencies ranging from identity theft to the possibility hackers could target a trading platform.
Coinbase makes Bitcoin transactions safer with new “vault” service
Coinbase has just launched a new service that aims to boost its online wallet’s security levels. The Bitcoiners will soon be able to use the company’s free Vault service as a savings account protected by additional transaction time and more steps for verifying transactions.
The launching of the optional service, called Coinbase Vault, happens after several cases of Bitcoin theft and safety breaches that affected numerous digital exchanges and wallets in the last couple of years. Mt. Gox is allegedly the most famous example, as the now defunct exchange was forced into bankruptcy after a massive hack.
Phishing scam targets US Marshals Service Bitcoin auction list
Individuals on the recipients list of the leaked US Marshals Service email to Silk Road auction enquirers are being targeted in a phishing attack, and at least one individual has fallen for the scam.
The Wall Street Journal confirmed that several individuals on the list received phishing emails from the same source. However, not all the individuals on the leaked email recipients list were targeted. The unfortunate victim of the attack was Sam Lee of Bitcoin arbitrage fund Bitcoins Reserve, which lost 100 BTC as a result.