Inside Bitcoins Paris conference 2014

Inside Bitcoins conference in Paris in November 20-21, 2014

Inside Bitcoins conference in Paris in November 20-21, 2014

What is it? Inside Bitcoins Paris Conference
Where is it? Espaces Cap 15, 1/13 Quai de Grenelle, 75015 Paris, France
When is it? Thursday and Friday November 20-21, 2014
Website: http://insidebitcoins.fr/en/

Speakers will include representatives from Blockchain.info, Coinizy, BitSpread, Paymium, Coinprism, Pathfinder Captial, Epicenter Bitcoin, and many more.

Does Paul Krugman have any credibility left?

Paul Krugman

After Paul Krugmans statement about the internet in late 90’s, does he have any credibility left as an economist?

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist that has said this in the late 90’s about the internet:

The growth of the internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in “Metcalfe’s Law” – which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants — becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet’s impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine’s.

He hates bitcoin and actually thinks he has credibility left to talk down against it. Here you can see a great article by Forbes columnist Mark Rogowsky -> http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2014/10/05/krugmania-as-bitcoins-price-falls-the-nyt-pundit-takes-a-very-premature-victory-lap/

Coinbase launches a new “Vault” safety feature

Coinbase has done it again! They are allowing us customers to sleep well at night knowing our bitcoins are totally safe now with the launch of their new “Vault”. It is a way to totally protect your bitcoins, there are 2 email and 1 sms authentications, so it’s a lot better and safer than ever before.

The admin looks like this:

coinbase_vault

Coinbase sent this email on July 25th 2014 announcing the launch of their new Vault:

Sleep Well Knowing Your Bitcoin is Safe

Bitcoin wallets are great for day-to-day spending, but storing large amounts of bitcoin requires extra security. This is why we created Coinbase Vault.

How does it work?
Withdrawals are time delayed with notifications delivered to your phone and email

Optionally choose multiple withdrawal approvers for increased security

Up to 97% of bitcoin is stored entirely offline in geographically distributed safe deposit boxes and private safes

How much does it cost?
The Coinbase vault is 100% free and has no fees.

Beware this possible phishing scam

I received an email today that was supposedly from the Bitcoin wallet Blockchain, from email address TC-12@t-online.de which read:

Blockchain – Bitcoin transfer

blockchain_header

REAL NAME
REAL STREET ADDRESS
REAL CITY, STATE
REAL ZIP CODE
REAL COUNTRY

Dear MY REAL NAME
you have won 1,34 BTC at our global Bitcoin-winning game.

Username: xxxxxxx
Password: xxxxxxx

Step 1
Download and start the transfer program from http://easy-transfer.servehttp.com

Step 2
Login with your tempory username and password.

Step 3
Enter yout BTC-Wallet address and click on the receive-button.

blockchain

We would be pleased if you check out our service.
We are not a bank, you retain complete ownership of your Money. We cannot view your balance, see your transactions or make payments on your behalf.
Our advantages:
– Mobile support
– Double encryption
– One click backups
– Payment notifications
– Charts & Analytics

https://blockchain.info/wallet/

I also posted a thread about this on Bitcointalk.org here. Everyone there agrees this is totally an email phishing or full blown scam.

EBay CEO is “serious” about bitcoin

CEO of Ebay John Donahoe talks about how the future of eBay and Paypal may be heading towards integrating bitcoin functionality into their system.

John Donahue Ceo eBay talks about how serious they are about integrating eBay/Paypal and bitcoin in near future.

John Donahue Ceo eBay talks about how serious they are about integrating eBay/Paypal and bitcoin in near future.

Quote from this interview:

“There is no doubt that digital currecny is going to play an important role going forward at paypal we’re going to have to integrate digitaul currencies into our wallet”

He also admits to owning bitcoins, not as an investment but to “understand how it can be used”.

See the video on CNBC here.

Hair salon in Glendale California accepts bitcoin

Here is an article written in, from a guest writer. Good to see that even real life OFFLINE shops/stores are now accepting bitcoin as payment!

First in Glendale, California: Glamour Hair Studio to Accept Bitcoin

Glamour Hair Studio accepts Bitcoin

Glamour Hair Studio accepts Bitcoin

I was passing by Broadway Street in Glendale California when I noticed “Bitcoin Accepted” sign on a window of the local business. This was the first time I ever seen a physical business accepting digital currency. It struck my interest, and I decided to walk-in to have a small interview with the owner.

In a small interview with business partners, Arch and Isabel, I asked the following questions:

Why did you deiced to accept Bitcoin?

Arch responded with a wide smile on his face:

“Fast, Cheap and Safe!!!

Fast: Transaction shows up in your account almost instantly and you know you got paid. Of course, it takes about 10 minutes for the network to verify and clear the payment. However, that’s not an issue compared to conventional payment processors’ 2-5 day timeframe.

Cheap: It’s much cheaper than conventional currency processing. You might incur a very small fee, if I’m not mistaken, that is for rewarding the miners for payment processing. Also, there is 1% charge if you like to instantly convert your BTCs to Dollars, with no volatility risk. But when you keep transactions in Bitcoins, there are no fees. And, that is a huge plus for a business.

Safe: You don’t need to trust someone for handling your money. You receive BTCs straight into your digital wallet in a matter of minutes. And, no holds, when payment processor decides to freeze your money for unexplained reasons”

Also, Isabel added:

“There is no chargebacks. In our experience, most chargebacks occurred as a fraudulent transaction by someone simply not willing to pay for the service we provided. We are respected business, and if for any reason customer is not happy and wants a refund, we will give a customer a refund. I don’t think there is a need for chargebacks”

How do you accept bitcoin? How is the payment process taking place?

Arch took his phone, entered the amount, and quickly generated Bitcoin Address in a form of the QR Code. He added

“You just scan the QR code with your smartphone and send a payment from your digital wallet to our payment address. Most wallets have a QR code scanning feature. If you don’t have it, you can download a QR scanner app to quickly generate the payment address. It’s that easy”

Do you think deflating currency is better than inflating?

Arch took a deep breath and said

“In my opinion, naturally deflating currency is better, but again, it’s too soon to say, we just need to wait and see. However, I don’t think we will have huge, irreversible problems with deflation. If it becomes an issue it can be managed to some degree, in an opposite way as the inflation is being managed”

To summarize:

I had a great conversation with Arch and Isabel and I share their excitement of new innovations.

Based on everyday news, it seems that Bitcoin is gaining traction and becoming more widely accepted all over the world.

By Liliana Abramovich