December 31, 2014 - In This Issue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bitcoin Could Help US Protect Against Rising Card Fraud


 

Most people have no idea how insecure their credit and debit cards are. Scary Fact: A child with an old-style VCR can use it to obtain the information stored on a bank card's magnetic strip. It is that easy to defraud both banks and banking customers. A recent report issued by Trend Micro outlines the problem in graphic detail.

 

Electronic Draft Capture (EDC) machines came into common use in the early 1990s, taking the place of the old slide-mechanism "knuckle busters."

 

Designed to read the magnetic strips that are common on cards today, from credit cards to driver's licenses, the first such machines were extremely hard to compromise. But like most technologies, new ones often open doors that were not present when the old ones were designed. In the case of EDC machines, those new technologies were card readers and open internet nodes.

 

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The next chapter in the Bitcoin story

A spectrum of 'possible': Companies in an array of industries are working to shatter the status quo. Here is one.

 

What if the benefits of Bitcoin stretched far beyond money?

 

More than a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is really a set of rules � la SMTP, the protocol that makes email work. The possibilities for innovation around Bitcoin's block chain-the public ledger on which every Bitcoin transaction is recorded, like a library card in the cloud-are exciting. The block chain allows for any exchange of value between two entities without a middleman. Transactions of all kinds are possible. You can use the block chain to store documents securely. Onename, a startup, is working on a social network that uses the block chain to validate identity. (Sorry, Facebook.) And then there's the Internet of things. "Every time you're running low on printer ink, it could notify the block chain and send you more," theorizes Ryan Selkis of the Digital Currency Group.

 

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Bitcoin is the future beyond digital currency

Fortune Magazine today calls Bitcoin an exciting library card in the cloud. It is a good analogy because Bitcoin is the future of peer-to-peer exchange. You can store data on the blockchain and it is recorded with the date stamp. It is always there in the future.

 

The simplicity of the blockchain is that new transactions are stored on a "block" of data. The new block refers back to the preceding chunk of information, which is the chain. Bitcoin is not produced in itself and transferred physically. Jeff Garzik, one of the five original bitcoin core developers, explains that the "register of deeds" is the transfer item online anywhere in the world.

 

Garzik considers blockchain the most secure record-keeping technology ever devised. The blockchain provides for each piece of information stored with a time-stamp and then it can be replicated on the other servers around the globe.

 

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What is Bitcoin? - Exclusive World Premiere Documentary on Why Bitcoin Matters

Bitcoin, as you're about to see, could revolutionize finance, banking, commerce and more - the impact this technology could have on global society is just beginning to reveal itself.


 

We think you'll agree after watching "Why Bitcoin Matters" that the future of currency could be digital, open-source, finite, mathematics-based, and truly game changing.


 

 Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency that trades on public exchanges and can be instantly transferred between any two people, anywhere in the world with the speed of an email... and at far lower cost than transactions typically processed through the traditional financial system.

 

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Bitcoin 2014 Review: Venture capital, fintech and Wall street push the digital currency forward

The Forex industry and regulators are still trying to make sense of the digital currency phenomenon; but it didn't stop 2014 from being a year of wider adoption from VC money and Wall Street execs looking to bring the cryptocurrency out of the dark

 

An enigma to the world since being introduced in 2009, Bitcoin is nonetheless growing and gaining more mainstream appeal in the Forex world month by month, 2014 was no exception. After topping out at $1,000 USD in January 2014, Bitcoin briefly dipped as low as the $260 mark on February 16, 2014 (more than a 70% decline peak to pit for the year, and making it one of the worst performing assets/currency had you acquired bitcoin to start the year at the price of $814 on January 1st, 2014).

 

From its bottom price of the year, the crypto/digital currency slowly recovered its losses and relative stability as institutional firms such as Bloomberg started to integrate the digital currency within its financial platforms. In addition, regulatory agencies started to come out with clearer stances towards digital currency law providing backers much needed boosts of confidence.

 

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Venture Capital Funding for Bitcoin Startups Triples in 2014

It's been a bumper 12 months for bitcoin companies raising funding. In fact, the amount of venture capital flowing into bitcoin startups this year is more than three times the total raised in 2013, according to CoinDesk data.

 

In total, bitcoin firms raised $314.7m in 2014. This represents a 3.3-fold increase over the previous year, in which $93.8m was invested.

 

Additionally, this year's total accounts for more than three-quarters of all venture capital raised for bitcoin startups since the start of CoinDesk data in 2012. A total of $410.7m has been invested in the space over that time.

 

The chart of cumulative all-time VC funding (below) shows two jumps in funds raised this year in March and October.

 

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