WHEN THE DOLLAR COLLAPSES, WHICH IS BETTER MONEY, GOLD OR BITCOIN?

By  Evander Smart

I’ll trust that you as the reader is educated enough to know the U.S. Dollar is on it’s last legs as the Global Reserve Currency. I’ve certainly written about the shaky financial situation of the U.S. enough, and there is no shortage of information online about the subject. The U.S. Government has started selling MRAPs to every backwoods county in the U.S. for pennies on the dollar, just because. They know what’s going on, and when the Dollar falls, the stuff will definitely hit the fan nationwide, and those machines will be used.

The Police State is being bred to be bigger, stronger, and more authoritarian. Unethical, immoral laws are being written and passed under the cover of hundreds of pages of legalese to take citizen’s rights and reverse the covenant the once great nation aspired to live up to. If you don’t see what’s happening, it’s on you, at this point. The future is not being hidden from you. 90% of the puzzle has been completed. If you don’t know, its only because you really just don’t want to know.

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Bitcoin: The Benevolent Virus (Op-Ed)

By Travis Patron

Bitcoin is a virus spreading with no cure. It transmits itself through the ideas of others and travels via digital networks of information. Eating up the processing power of computer systems and decaying the roots of analog money, Bitcoin is the spread of a benevolent virus.

The ALS ice-bucket challenge is a prime example how an idea can spread virally, and enabled by digital information. Every participant becomes involved by being referred by a previous one, and they themselves refer two more in turn, creating viral growth of the idea. The driving factor behind this viral growth is the implanting of an idea of the host, from there it can often come to consume the participant.

A cancer which develops in the body grows by way of turning existing cells into deadly cancer cells. Every patient who has ever dealt with cancer before knows that once that growth of cancer reaches a particular point, there is no hope of a recovery. The cancer will take its course and there is very little the host can do to combat it. Eventually, this cancer grows so large that it self-destructs as it effectively kills the very environment, which had allowed it to thrive.

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Bitcoin Startup 21 Announces $116 Million All-Star Backing

By Joon Ian Wong

Stealth bitcoin startup 21 Inc, formerly 21e6, has announced new information about its funding history, staff members and investors, revealing it has raised $116m in fundraising over multiple rounds.

In a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, 21 CEO Matthew Pauker indicated that Andreessen Horowitz, Data Collective, Khosla Ventures, RRE Ventures and Yuan Capital are among the firms that have participated in the company’s funding rounds.

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston; eBay co-founder Jeff Skoll; Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi; PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin; and Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus have also invested in the startup.

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Bitcoin Venture Capital Funding on Pace for $1 Billion in 2015

By  Kyle Torpey

NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) — With the recent venture funding announcement from secretive bitcoin startup 21 Inc., the bitcoin industry is now on pace to eclipse the $1 billion mark for 2015. This would be a massive improvement over the final numbers from 2014, and each passing year has shown exceptional growth in funding for bitcoin companies since 2012. In addition to the $116 million raised by 21, Coinbase also announced a funding round of $75 million in January, which included investments from the New York Stock Exchange, BBVA, USAA Bank, and many other respected institutions in the financial industry.

21 breaks Coinbase’s record

21’s $116 million in venture capital funding is the most ever by a company in the digital currency space, and it breaks a record set by Coinbase earlier this year. There is a steep drop off in funding totals when compared the rest of the rounds that have been in announced in 2015, although KnCMiner was able to raise $15 million for their mining-centric business model. Although 21 has been able to raise a remarkable amount of money for their upcoming commercial operations, the exact nature of their business is still unknown to the general public at this point in time.

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Bank of England: Digital Currencies Could Revolutionise Payments

By Yessi Bello Perez

A combination of digital currencies and mobile technology may reshape the payments landscape, according to a new Bank of England research report.

The One Bank Research Agenda investigates issues beyond the UK central bank's traditional scope to decipher how monetary policy interacts with developments such as climate change and increasing life spans.

Mark Carney, the Bank’s Governor, summarised today's launch of the Agenda saying:

"Economies are complex, dynamic and constantly evolving systems that are underpinned by social interactions and behavioral change, shaped by fundamental forces like technology and globalization and supported – or at times disrupted – by finance."

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Should Businesses Accept Bitcoin?

By Bill Conerly

Bitcoin has strong opportunities for mainstream businesses, but it’s hard to understand from listening to techies explain it. Here is what a company’s management needs to know about Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a better way to do transactions. Forget about Bitcoin as an investment vehicle, or Bitcoin as a way to end the Federal Reserve. Its benefit to business comes from payments.

If your payments are occasional and in large amounts, don’t bother with Bitcoin. Let’s say that you’re Boeing. Once or twice a day someone sends you $100,000,000 for an airplane. Stick with your current practices.

However, say you run a coffee shop with an average ticket of six dollars, and nobody carries cash. You can collect an electronic payment with zero cost per transaction.

Say you’re a dentist who takes plastic. Occasionally someone disputes payment with his credit card issuer because his tooth is still hurting. Not only do you lose money, but you lose valuable time dealing with the dispute.

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New Hampshire Lawmakers Debate Accepting Bitcoin for Tax Payments

By Stan Higgins

The New Hampshire state legislature held a pair of hearings earlier this month that focused on how the state could create a means for residents to pay taxes and fees using bitcoin.

Up for debate is a bill recently filed by state representative Eric Schleien that would open the door for the state to accept bitcoin. The bill is currently being weighed by the New Hampshire General Court Ways and Means Committee.

If passed, the bill would allow New Hampshire to partner with a bitcoin company to accept bitcoin payments and receive US dollars. Similar efforts are underway in states like Utah to explore or take the first steps toward some kind of digital currency acceptance.

The committee met on the 12th and 17th of February to hear testimony from a number of local bitcoin activists and politicians. Speakers included Schleien, former gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway, Ziftr CEO Bob Wilkins, as well as other state residents speaking both in support of and against the bitcoin payments bill.

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