This Week in Bitcoin
ZapChain, Bitcoin Headquarters, Reddit, and my new job investing in Bitcoin startups with Barry Silbert.
As I shared last night on Twitter (follow @twobitidiot, fools), I am happy to announce that I have joined Barry Silbert and the exceptional team working on his new bitcoin venture. We’ll share more information soon, but my role will be focused on investments. We want to build and seed the next generation of Bitcoin ventures and help the entire industry continue to grow and thrive, and I am ecstatic to play a (small) part in helping the industry scale.
It was a whirlwind first 24 hours, but as promised, here’s this week’s “Best of the Rest”:
1. ZapChain
I continue to be impressed with both the speed at which the ZapChain team (really, the founder Matt) is building that bitcoin social network, as well as the quality of the content at Zapchain Magazine on Medium. So much so that I’m letting Zapchain Magazine syndicate my Daily Bit. Here’s a great post that they did about improving the Bitcoin Community.
2. Future Headquarters of Bitcoin
John Scianna from Bitcoin Magazine put together a compelling look at why Texas is positioned to be the “Future Headquarters of Bitcoin.” Most will agree that the Lone Star StateI as a whole is still a distant third to Silicon Valley and NYC for Bitcoin activity…for now. Still, Texas has already been openly friendly to Bitcoin activity and ventures. Check it out.
3. Hat Tip to Reddit
Some commenter (sorry, I can’t seem to find the source comment) recommended two incredible NPR documentaries in the “This American Life” series. The first “What is Money?” takes a fascinating look at how Brazil managed to slow the catastrophic inflation of its currency in the early ‘90s by re-denominating goods in “URVs” — a case study that seems illustrative for how bitcoin could work as a true unit of account in high inflation countries. The other on hedge fund Magnetar is less bitcoin related, but equally good. If you’ve got a long commute or travel planned, download these. They won’t disappoint.
The Invention of Money
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/423/the-invention-of-money
Inside Job: The Story of Magnetar
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/405/inside-job
Upcoming Events
Money 20/20 (November 2–5 in Las Vegas)
Money20/20 is the world’s largest event enabling payments and financial services innovation for ‘anywhere, anytime’ connected commerce at the intersection of mobile, retail, marketing services, data and technology. With 6,500+ attendees, including more than 500 CEOs, from over 2,250 companies and 50 countries, Money20/20 is critical to realizing the vision of disruptive ways in which consumers and businesses manage, spend and borrow money. The next Money20/20 will be held on Nov. 2–5, 2014 in Las Vegas, and will be preceded by the Money20/20 Hackathon, which runs Nov. 1–2. Register here!
Inside Bitcoins Conference (October 5–7 in Las Vegas)
We’ve partnered with Inside Bitcoins to offer 20% discounts on conference passes to TBI readers! Just use the code TBIDAILY. Inside Bitcoins Las Vegas is the latest Media Bistro conferences on the calendar following shows this year in Berlin, Hong Kong, and New York. For more information on Vegas, you can sign up here.
Coins in the Kingdom (October 4–6 in Orlando, FL)
The first family-friend cryptocurrency conference! This event will take place at Disneyworld and will serve as the College Cryptocurrency Network’s “Semi-Southern Conference.” Tickets are only $60 and hotel rooms are $99, but to students to whom the tickets would present a financial hardship should email jeremy@collegecrypto.org. Register here!
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Have a position you’re dying to fill? You can pay to post it here, in the Bit’s new jobs section.
Job Fair: Coinality, Gem and the Plug and Play Tech Center, will host the Los Angeles Bitcoin Job Fair on Saturday, Oct 4rd (12noon — 5pm) at Cross Campus (929 Colorado Ave.) in Santa Monica, California. Job seekers can connect with a number of employers including: BitWage, FreshPay, Gem, ExpressCoin, Blockchain.info among others. The event is free for job seekers.
Senior Folks: Check out HoneyBadgr, which introduces top talent to early stage and venture-backed Bitcoin startups. They are a team of ex-Googlers residing at Boost VC in Silicon Valley, with a mission to help grow the Bitcoin ecosystem on a global scale.
Student Bitcoiners: Circle, the Boston-based digital currency venture, is looking for campus reps across the country to participate in a social media marketing program this fall! Each rep will receive a Circle account with $250 in Bitcoin to spend over the course of the semester. Reps are required to post at least five stories about using Circle and Bitcoin to their Facebook accounts (and/or other blogging platforms like Tumblr) and to cross promote these via Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and other social channels. To apply, send your resume to reps@circle.com click onthis link to be redirected to the brief application.
Today’s Tid Bits
Coinbase Leads Move to Bring Bitcoin to the Masses
Bloomberg takes an in depth view on Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam and their startup, Coinbase Inc. Coinbase, which Bloomberg classifies as a “bitcoin blue chip,” is technically a brokerage service for bitcoins, where customers can buy, sell, and store the digital currency. Ehrsam, a former foreign-exchange trader at Goldman Sachs, and Armstrong, a former software engineer at Airbnb, met online and began buying massive amounts of bitcoin together back in 2008. Today, the two run one of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges, which has raised $30m in investor funding.
Georgia Tech Integrates Bitcoin into Student Payment Cards
The Georgia Institute of Technology now integrates bitcoin into its students’ dining and shopping experience. Campus payment cards, known as BuzzCards, can now be loaded with bitcoin, which can be used at more than 200 locations in campus; including for meals, parking, recreational facilities, and tickets for sporting events. Tony Gallippi and Stephen Pair, two BitPay executives, and former Georgia Tech students, will be handling the payments through their payment-processing firm. Georgia Tech is the first university to integrate bitcoin in to its student loaded, payment cards.
8 US Politicians to Receive Bitcoin By Mail This Week
BitPAC, a DC-based political action committee, will be distributing $250 worth of bitcoin in paper wallets to eight members of Congress this week. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rand Paul (R-KY), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Maxine Waters (D-CA), and Jared Polis (D-CO) will be receiving the donations. The donations are meant to influence members of Congress to pressure the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to solidify its stance on digital currency’s usage in political fundraising.
Irish Pub Abandons Bitcoin, Cites Legal Concerns
The Baggon Inn, Dublin’s first bitcoin pub, has stopped accepting payments in bitcoin and unplugged its bitcoin ATM, citing legal issues. Due to the pending “legality of bitcoin ATMs in the Republic of Ireland we can no longer accept bitcoin payments” the company said in a statement explaining its decision. The Robocoin ATM will now be out of commission.
Bitcoin France Joins as Tenth Bitcoin Foundation Chapter Affiliate
Bitcoin France will join the Bitcoin Foundation as its tenth affiliate, working with the Foundation to grow the international network of leaders for the digital currency. According to the Bitcoin Foundation, France ranks fourth globally with regard to active bitcoin nodes.
Coinbase Rolls Out New Checkout Pages
Coinbase has updated its checkout payments pages, with a new look and improved functionality. The update will also work to allow merchants greater flexibility when customizing these pages. The checkout page will allow merchants the option to include the bitcoin buyback feature as well. Expedia, Dell, Intuit, and the Wikimedia Foundation all currently use Coinbase’s merchant services.
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News tips: email 2bitidiot@gmail.com
