May 26, 2015- In This Issue:

  

Nasdaq Plans to Increase Bitcoin Blockchain Trials

American Stock Exchange Nasdaq is planning to increase the number of Bitcoin blockchain trials this year, the finance news network FT reported.

 

According to the available reports, the New York group is hoping to initiate three-to-four trials within the next 12 months, a step that will improve the sluggish confirmation process on US securities markets to a wonderful extent. The decision meanwhile is speculated to be born out of a reason to stay ahead with NYSE which, just a few days back, launched the first exchange-calculated and distributed bitcoin index.

 

But Nasdaq's Chief Executive Bob Greifeld gives a different reason behind the amplification of their  blockchain trials. In his comments to FT, he simply acknowledged the current sluggishness in financial markets and believed in blockchain technology to help reducing the time it takes to finalize deals on US securities markets.

 

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5 Freelancers Who May Use Bitcoin-Powered Streamium to Cut Out Middlemen

The launch of Streamium was announced via Reddit yesterday.

 

The new application from Manuel Ar?oz and company was created to build a direct connection between video streamers and their viewers. Video streaming is dealt with on a peer-to-peer (P2P) basis via WebRTC, and payments for viewing a stream are made possible through the use of bitcoin and payment channels.

 

A stream of small, off-chain payments are made to the broadcaster every second as the viewer continues to watch a stream, and all of those micropayments are then combined into one larger payment that is made via the bitcoin blockchain.


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Why The Deed To Your House Could Soon Be A Bitcoin

Bitcoin may never be a sustainable currency for anything besides buying illegal goods on a Deep Web market, despite flirtations from online retailers like Amazon and Overstock.com. But the technology that underpins it is a major breakthrough -- it's basically a database that anyone can check and write to but that nobody can delete. This underlying construct, known as a blockchain, makes the bitcoin perfect for tracking property and other assets in the real world.

 

Several enterprising companies are using the blockchain to keep track of objects with substantial value, including stocks and art and land. And it's not just startups and cryptocurrency fanatics who are embracing the blockchain -- major institutions are experimenting with it as well, including Nasdaq, which runs the second largest stock exchange in the United States.


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Russia Lifts Bitcoin Ban

Since the middle of the last year, the Russian government has been discussing the possible ban and criminalization of digital currency. Some Bitcoin related sites have even been blocked in a move that forced many of the Bitcoin Russian startups to close or go overseas.

 

Last week, Russian courts overturned the ruling about blocking sites. Russian telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor banned access to bitcoin payment systems in January this year by ordering internet service providers to restrict access to certain sites such as Bitcoin.org, Coinspot.ru and BTCSec.com, according to Gigaom.

 

Back in August 2014, the Russian minister of finance, Alexei Moiseev proposed a plan to ban issuing bitcoin and any operation related to cryptocurrency, to become effective at spring 2015. However, the latest court decision means that the bitcoin ban has now been lifted and will allow the Russian entrepreneurs and businesses to continue dealing freely with bitcoin.

 

Ivan Tikhonov, the owner of BTCSec.com, says that the blocks were cancelled because it clearly violates Russian laws. He also sees this as an opportunity for entrepreneurs as they can use the technology and obtain objective information, giving them the possibility of being able to legally work with Bitcoin.

 

The latest Reports about the general Russian perception of Bitcoin are very negative and those who do not know about the currency refer to it as fraudulent.

 

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Bitcoin-Based Investment Fund Added to IG

The first fund to offer bitcoin investment as part of a bespoke portfolio has launched on global derivatives trading platform IG, the UK's largest forex provider.

 

Launched in late 2014, funding platform Invest Your Way (IYW) will enable traders to invest in bitcoin via contract for differences (CFDs), a form of futures contract where trades are settled in cash as opposed to physical goods.

 

In this case, the CFD will mimic bitcoin - the underlying asset - providing returns based on the digital currency's price.

 

IYW CEO Michael Newell told CoinDesk:

 

"We actively work with clients to expand this range and the most highly requested product since launch has been bitcoin. Many people are aware of what they are, yet few know how to access them [bitcoin]. Fewer still would have any idea how to build bitcoin into a diversified portfolio."


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MIT aims to give bitcoin research, development a stable home

Bitcoin survived a wild youth marked by drug trafficking, money laundering, theft, bankruptcy, and political spats. Now, the digital currency is getting cleaned up and heading to grad school.

 

A fledgling project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab is offering researchers and software developers a quiet home to work on bitcoin's core technology, a computer science breakthrough that lets people trade money securely without paying a middleman.

 

Media Lab leaders hope that, by acting as a safe home for research and development, MIT can help the sprawling bitcoin software project shed its chaotic past and emerge as a more versatile technology platform.

 

If the idea works, bitcoin's underlying technology - known as the blockchain - has a chance to become a new digital system that makes transferring money or signing a contract as cheap and simple as sending an e-mail.

 

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