BitBond and Bitpesa target P2P loans for African Businesses
Bitbond and Bitpesa recently announced a new initiative offering small business loans to Kenyans, Nigerians, Tanzanians, and Ugandans. In a bid “to improve access to financing for SMEs in Africa,” the move allows Bitbond borrowers in the four countries to “withdraw loans into their mobile money or bank account in as little as 20 mins,” according to Bitbond’s announcement.
US Cannabis industry ripe for bitcoin
It’s hard to imagine a more unique industry than the US cannabis industry, or one that is growing and changing faster. Arcview Market Research reports a blistering 34% compound annual growth rate from 2014 to 2016, driven primarily by Colorado and Washington initiating adult-use sales. This rate of growth will subside somewhat in 2017 to 22%, as the eight states that voted to open or expand their cannabis markets on Election Day in November 2016 work to implement the new programs.
New AML compliant bitcoin processing service available to 56,000 merchants
ACI Worldwide recently announced a partnership with Payment21. ACI Vice President Andy McDonald said that the partnership will enable their clients to offer bitcoin payments, “without exposing their merchants to price volatility.”
New Hampshire House reverses stance on cryptocurrency money transmitter status
New Hampshire is home to the largest community of freedom advocates in the US, and possibly the largest Bitcoin-using community as well. The New Hampshire State House of Representatives recently passed an important bill for local Bitcoin businesses. The legislation unwinds a bill created two years prior, an ominous-sounding Bill, HB 666, which defined bitcoin and cryptocurrency-using businesses as money transmitter services.
Bitcoin a Port in the Storm
Monetary policy is a more general instrument, rather than a specific tool. It is conducted in an environment of uncertainty where policy decisions are taken based on theory. In this sense, it is an experiment. Perhaps this would be of less concern to many of us if theories and policies that seemed effective in the past worked today. However, it seems that despite the significant effort of established institutions to stabilise the global economy post the 2008 global financial crisis, the tools that have been used in the past by developed economies have not had their anticipated affect - or at the very least recovery has been slow and it has been seen as necessary to use unconventional monetary policy tools including quantitative easing (QE).
Bitwala announces fee-free Bitcoin to M-Pesa service
Bitwala recently announced that their customers are able to transfer bitcoin to any M-Pesa account in four African countries. Available in Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Uganda, this new service is “free of charge – forever,” according to the announcement.
Bitcoin charity platform Helperbit completes first case study
In the last few months devastating earthquakes have hit central Italy, devastating many mountain villages, killing nearly 300 people and displacing 22 thousand inhabitants. The environmentalist association [Legambiente](http://international.legambiente.it/), and several partners, have since been collaborating on a crowdfunding campaign for those affected.
Bitcoin invoicing for international trade
Notwithstanding legal and regulatory issues - that would require further consideration outside the scope of this discussion - it is plausible that Bitcoin the system could be used by domestic firms in emerging economies to make payment on international supplier invoices - i.e payment on imports denominated in an international currency.
Bitspark vs. Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s bustling population of 7 million only has about 350,000 migrant workers, but on Sundays, it feels like every single one of them has managed to cram into the same 12 square kilometers of the Central district. Their mission is always the same, send money back home to the Philippines or Indonesia in the most affordable and secure way possible.
Deconstructing the invisible Bitcoin remittance solution
When Bitcoin was created in 2009, its most obvious use was for sending money across the planet, as easily as sending an email. The potential benefits for the 230 million migrants all over the world that send US$430 billion in remittances back home each year could be enormous. But beyond all the rhetoric, the practical implementation has yet to be sorted out.
Bitcoin ETF may attract $300 million in the first week, says Needham & company
Global investment bank and asset management firm Needham & Company recently released a short investment report focusing on the the Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC). While analyst Spencer Bogart gave GBTC a “Hold” rating, which means the price of the Trust is expected to go sideways over the coming year, the report also included detailed research on the upcoming Winklevoss ETF.
Fix Medium with Bitcoin
The CEO of Medium, Ev Williams, just announced a pivot away from ads. Williams appears intent upon solving the content monetization problem, with no indication of how to do that just yet.The CEO of *Medium*, Ev Williams, just announced a pivot away from ads. Williams appears intent upon solving the content monetization problem, with no indication of how to do that just yet.
Bitcoin adoption accelerating in Mexico
As the eleventh most-populous country in the world, with a population of over 120 million, the World Bank [classifies](http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMEXICO/Resources/Urban_Poverty_in_Mexico.pdf) half of Mexicans as “poor” and says that they are generally “Barred from access to formal financial assets.”
Microsoft adds advanced support for bitcoin to Excel spreadsheets
Microsoft’s latest upgrade roadmap for MS Office, includes four entries for bitcoin support into the four different platform version of their popular Excel spreadsheet software. The changes allow for Bitcoin data to be used in their spreadsheets and calculations, making the task of doing budgeting with bitcoins far easier.
Bitcoin in 2016
2016 was a year of growth for Bitcoin compared to last year, both in price and infrastructure. Bitcoin has retained its title of best performing currency for the second year in a row, and perhaps more importantly, has found its first taste of legitimacy in commercial use by banks.
3D Printing, Crypto and Steemit with Celia
Celia reached out to us after feeling disaffected by Steemit and hoping that Yours might avoid some of their problems. Since Steemit is one of our closest competitors, we knew that Celia’s input would be extremely valuable to help identify places where we need to improve.
