The politics of fear is a risky game – Editor’s Letter January 15, 2015 The Prime Minister criticised online encryption this week, on the back of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in words that appeared to threaten a ban. In the words of tech Twitter guru @SwiftOnSecurity “Politicians: The kind of people who think they can ban math.” But to many businesses this was no joke. One City FinTech startup, [...]
Central bank report says Bitcoin could threaten the global financial system May 15, 2014 A report by the Bank of Canada (BoC) has warned that the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency Bitcoin could bring serious risks to the established financial system. Entitled Understanding Platform Based Digital Currencies, the authors wrote “there could be potential risks to overall financial stability if Bitcoin became a significant means of payment and the Bitcoin [...]
Central bank report says Bitcoin could threaten the global financial system May 15, 2014 A report by the Bank of Canada (BoC) has warned that the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency Bitcoin could bring serious risks to the established financial system. Entitled Understanding Platform Based Digital Currencies, the authors wrote "there could be potential risks to overall financial stability if Bitcoin became a significant means of payment and the Bitcoin [...]
Artists programme bot to buy drugs on Silk Road, everyone wonders what to do about it January 15, 2015 Forget trees quietly falling in forests – here's a far more modern problem. If a bot with a penchant for partying buys ecstasy pills and gets them delivered to an art gallery but no one has actively told it to do it, can anyone be prosecuted? That's the problem facing authorities, after a pair of [...]
Bitcoin CEOs pull out of global summit amid regulatory crackdown May 6, 2014 The CEOs of five Chinese Bitcoin exchanges have pulled out of the Global Bitcoin Summit, reports CoinDesk. The chief executives of OKCoin, Huobi, BTC China, BtcTrade and CHBTC said they would no longer attend large-scale Bitcoin conferences and events. In further bad news for the cryptocurrency, BTC China announced today that it had suspended yuan [...]
Why this central bank isn’t worried about the rise of Bitcoin May 1, 2014 Top officials from the Canadian central bank have said they are not worried about the rise of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Speaking to the Senate banking committee, Bank of Canada (BoC) governor Steven Poloz said "these are early days … and so far digital currencies have not made it to what we call money." [...]
Creaking mindsets: Why businesses are about to learn some hard lessons February 18, 2015 Are we experiencing a revolution in the way that organisations operate? A recent essay in the Harvard Business Review has caused a stir by claiming that we are. The authors, Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms, draw a distinction between institutions that are defined by “old power” and “new power.” The former rely on the exclusive [...]
What London property could you get with 50,000 Bitcoins? April 25, 2014 Estate agent Knight Frank has compared how an investment in the cyrptocurrency Bitcoin would have performed compared to an investment in highly prized central London property. In July 2010, it would have taken 50,000 Bitcoins to buy one measly square foot of an eight-bedroom mansion house in Mayfair, based on a value of £28m. By [...]
UK Bitcoin exchange shuts up shop March 31, 2014 Bit121 a UK-based Bitcoin exchange has suspended trading and will be closing temporarily from today. The exchange has not confirmed when it will reopen. Bit121's site functionality was removed on the 26 March. However, the site did provide the following exceptions: 1. Users will be able to view their account balance and account statement2. Users [...]
Here’s why 2014 could still prove a great year for Bitcoin bugs April 25, 2014 The past few months have proved to be a tough time for cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The MtGox exchange suffered a dramatic fall from grace, while the price of the digital currency has fallen by 37 per cent the year to date. However, things may be looking up for Bitcoin as venture capital money continues pour in [...]