Digital currency Bitcoin hits new high before losing S$200 in value in one day

[CityFarmer]

The last lifeline for Bitcoin?

SecondMarket plans regulated bitcoin exchange
26 Feb 2014 06:42
[NEW YORK] SecondMarket Holdings, a New York firm that facilitates investments in privately held companies, is planning a US-based regulated exchange for bitcoin investors, the company's founder and chief executive, Barry Silbert, said on Tuesday.

Silbert said the new exchange will be modeled after the New York Stock Exchange, and would be launched possibly in the summer of 2014. He hopes to recruit at least 10 members by the end of March and is currently in discussions with bitcoin companies, as well as at least half a dozen global banks. "The whole effort will be regulated and all the participants in the exchange will be regulated as well," Silbert said.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News

[CityFarmer]

850,000 bitcoins, and worth US$425 mil...Wow...

Tokyo bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy

TOKYO — The Mt Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection today (Feb 28) and its chief executive said 850,000 bitcoins, worth several hundred million dollars, are unaccounted for.

The exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply for several minutes.

He said a weakness in the exchange’s systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company’s own bitcoins. That would amount to about US$425 million (S$538 million) at recent prices.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/toky...bankruptcy

[CityFarmer]

Mr. Buffett expressed his view on Bitcoin...

Buffett says bitcoin 'not a currency'
04 Mar 2014 08:22
[NEW YORK] The Oracle of Omaha is not a believer in bitcoin.

Warren Buffett, chief executive of investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world's most respected investors, told CNBC television Monday that bitcoin "does not meet the test of a currency." "I wouldn't be surprised if it's not around in 10 or 20 years," said the 83-year-old billionaire, whose nickname stems from his investment savvy and his home city of Omaha, in the US state of Nebraska.

Mr Buffett called the virtual currency, which has no central bank backing and is generated by an automated computer programme, "very speculative, a Buck Rogers kind of thing" like the Dutch tulip mania in 1637.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News

[etan]

To add on - Facts we ought to know in local context:

Are virtual currencies recognised by MAS?

VCs, including those from Liberty Reserve and Bitcoin, are not legal tender in Singapore.

Under the Currency Act, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has sole right to issue currency notes and coins in Singapore. Only notes and coins issued by MAS are legal tender in Singapore.

Further, VCs are not considered as securities under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA). As such, platforms that enable the trading of VCs are not regulated by MAS under the SFA.

Text taken from:
http://www.moneysense.gov.sg/understandi...ncies.aspx

[specuvestor]

Mr. Buffett expressed his view on Bitcoin...

Buffett says bitcoin 'not a currency'
04 Mar 2014 08:22
[NEW YORK] The Oracle of Omaha is not a believer in bitcoin.

Warren Buffett, chief executive of investment conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway and one of the world's most respected investors, told CNBC television Monday that bitcoin "does not meet the test of a currency." "I wouldn't be surprised if it's not around in 10 or 20 years," said the 83-year-old billionaire, whose nickname stems from his investment savvy and his home city of Omaha, in the US state of Nebraska.

Mr Buffett called the virtual currency, which has no central bank backing and is generated by an automated computer programme, "very speculative, a Buck Rogers kind of thing" like the Dutch tulip mania in 1637.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News

Time will tell if we are just old fashioned folks that can't keep up with the times...

Bit coin is a mockery on the fiat system where it is based on faith. Buts that's where the similarity ends.

A country produces something that the sovereign taxing power and money creation instills certain rational faith

Faith in bitcoin is misguided faith. Bitcoin is tulip. Every rational person knows it's going to burst but everyone don't think they will be holding the ball when the music stops. Nothing new under the sun, from Bre-X to Madoff to the recent Blumont.

Just that no one knows when, which is the fuel of speculation

I have stated my unreserved opinion in this rational forum on bitcoin because in my experience this is too obvious a duck.

Demand has to be based on fundamental demand which many MLM lacks. Why insurance is a valid MLM is because there is a fundamental demand for the consumption of insurance. Similarly bitcoin lack a fundamental demand except it is restrictive in supply. This is not a rare art piece but one generated by generic one and zeros. You can try to sell gaming items but the day of reckoning will come when these virtual items are worthless.

Gold has certain industrial uses as electrical interconnects and also storage of value from a historical antiquity and Bretton Woods legacy perspective. Even so Buffett's view on non productive gold is very clear. And I don't think bitcoin is productive or can be used for other purposes.

IMHO bitcoin is a product of virtual goods commerce and the misguided idea about fiat currency. History will repeat itself

[CityFarmer]

I was wondering the support of the moneychanger on Bitcoin. Now I realize that it function more like a vending machine, than a moneychanger, only selling bitcoin, no buying...

MAS advises caution on transactions involving Bitcoin

SINGAPORE — The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has advised consumers and businesses to be cautious with transactions involving Bitcoin, as virtual currencies are unregulated and consumers may not have legal recourse should there be problems.

The warning came as Singapore’s first Bitcoin machines made their debut last week. The MAS referred to them as vending machines as they accept cash for Bitcoins, but do not allow people to convert their Bitcoins into cash.

“Virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, are not legal tender and are not recognised by the MAS as an official medium of exchange or as a form of securities. The MAS does not regulate Bitcoin, including its purchase, sale or use, whether online or via other means such as physical vending machines,” the central bank said in a statement.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/mas-advi...ng-bitcoin

[CityFarmer]

Is it just a coincident? Let's see any update after police investigation...

anyway, RIP for Ms Autumn Radtke...

Police confirm death of Singapore bitcoin exchange CEO

SINGAPORE — Singapore police have confirmed that Autumn Radtke, the American CEO of Singapore bitcoin exchange First Meta, was found dead in her home late last month.

Police had received a call on Feb 26 at about 7.05am requesting for assistance at Block 8 Cantonment Close.

When they arrived, they found 28-year-old Radtke lying motionless in her apartment.

She was pronounced dead at scene by paramedics and police are investigating the case of “unnatural death”. CHANNEL NEWSASIA
Ref: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/pol...change-ceo

[CityFarmer]

An interesting news on Bitcoin. The creator is found...

Enigmatic Bitcoin creator Nakamoto found: Report
07 Mar 2014 06:02
[WASHINGTON] After years of speculation, the true identity of the mysterious person or group behind the Bitcoin revolution known as "Satoshi Nakamoto" was revealed by Newsweek on Thursday.

It turns out his name is, in fact, Satoshi Nakamoto.

A reporter tracked down the 64-year-old, a Japanese-American physicist and model train enthusiast, living under the name Dorian S. Nakamoto in a modest two-story house in suburban Los Angeles.

Mr Nakamoto did not admit to being behind the phenomenon that, since its 2009 launch, has been hailed as a financial revolution despite scandals over its use in the drugs trade and money-laundering.

And he called the police when the magazine's reporter knocked on his door.

But Newsweek said the man, whose quiet career involved classified work as a systems engineer for the US government and government contractors, tacitly acknowledged his role in creating the crypto-currency that has rocked the banking world.

"I am no longer involved in that, and I cannot discuss it," he said. "It's been turned over to other people." In a scoop heralding the relaunch of its print edition on Friday after two years only online, Newsweek said Nakamoto was born in Japan in 1949 and immigrated to the United States 10 years later.

He studied physics at California State Polytechnic University and worked for a number of companies, but has apparently not held a steady job since 2002.

He spends much of his time on his model train hobby, and has apparently not tapped the millions of dollars of Bitcoin wealth Newsweek says comes from authoring the computer code behind it.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News

[CityFarmer]

The most sure thing in life, is tax, besides death...

Japan says Bitcoin not a currency, but taxable
07 Mar 2014 10:00
[TOKYO] Japan's government said Friday that Bitcoin is not a currency but that it "is natural" that transactions involving the virtual unit should be taxed.

"As a matter of common sense, if there are transactions and subsequent gains, it is natural... for the finance ministry to consider how it can impose taxes," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

His comments, in the wake of the spectacular failure of the Tokyo-based MtGox trading exchange last week, come as the government studies formal regulations for the unit after its reliability was called into question.

Regulators around the world are grappling with how to handle the currency.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News

[CityFarmer]

More restriction on Bitcoin in Singapore...

Singapore to regulate Bitcoin operators for laundering risk

Singapore plans to regulate virtual-currency intermediaries including operators of Bitcoin exchanges and vending machines to address potential money- laundering and terrorist-financing risks.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore will require intermediaries that facilitate the exchange of digital currencies to verify customers’ identities and report suspicious transactions to a unit of the city-state’s police, it said in a statement yesterday. No timeframe was given.
...
http://www.theedgesingapore.com/the-dail...risk-.html