Dell, one of the biggest companies in the PC market is now accepting Bitcoin, the most known crypto-currency in the world. This made possible after partnership with Coinbase. Any purchase from Dell’s website can use also Bitcoin as payment option. Dell wanted to give this flexibility to their customers. My guess is that in few years Bitcoin will be the first payment option in all online stores. After some drops to the price of Bitcoin which is predictable because more and more companies accept Bitcoin but they convert it immediately to dollars which drives the price down
Microsoft accepts Bitcoin
I delayed a month to post this. Microsoft started accepting Bitcoin payments to allow their customers to buy games, software and videos with the crypto-currency. After partnership with BitPay now Microsoft customers can add money to their Microsoft account . After that they can buy any digital goods Microsoft offers. That gives Microsoft customers another way to purchase what they want and Bitcoin owners another option to where to spend their coins.
SatoshiHunt – Bitcoin retro slot machine
There are many gambling sites and some of them are accepting Bitcoins. Some other sites were created based on the Bitcoin protocol and they generate their random numbers based on that. Users tend to trust more a website that shows exactly how they generate their results instead of just have faith from a black-box gambling site. One of those websites is SatoshiHunt which has look of a retro slot machine and everything is open to its players. Satoshi Hunt is based completely on the Bitcoin protocol and you can win up to 100x your bet. Players are anonymous, you don’t create account and you don’t provide personal details like name or email. Playing is simple, you send a bet which should be between minimum and maximum allowed bet and seconds later the slot machine is spinning and you see your result. After you win you will get the amount won back in few minutes depending on the Bitcoin network.
Wikipedia Bitcoin donations reached $140000 in one week
In a previous post, a week ago, we mentioned that Wikipedia now accepts Bitcoin payments for their donations. Their donations in Bitcoins reached the amazing number of $140000 so we can say that this was a good move from Wikipedia. There are people with many Bitcoins there ready to spend them on something they believe. Several companies and organizations gathered money they wouldn’t get without Bitcoin acceptance. This is good news also for Bitcoin and its community. I believe we will see more success stories like this in the near future.
Wikipedia accepts Bitcoins for donation
Bitcoin is accepted by many merchants, websites, individuals and companies for different reasons. Wikipedia announced that they now accept Bitcoin payments for their donations. If you like Wikipedia and you wanted to donate by keeping your anonymity now you can do it. I am glad to see that Bitcoin is accepted by more people in a daily basis. A year ago it was almost for exchange, investors and enthusiasts. Now, several big companies accept it as a payment method and you can buy almost anything. Even recently, I purchased a new hosting and in the payment options I saw Bitcoin, I didn’t expect that, it was a nice surprise.
Expedia accepts Bitcoin payments
One of the most popular websites to book hotels and find traveling tickets, one of the biggest travel agencies now accepts Bitcoin payments. Expedia will accept Bitcoin payments only for hotel booking first and then for everything else. This move will help them get a market share of Bitcoin fans and especially from the early adopters that they have many Bitcoins to spend. It also help them for marketing purposes since they are from the first serious players accepting Bitcoin payments and it is big news. Bitcoin is still volatile and many day traders exploit that fact to make profit. Bigger players have also plans to accept Bitcoin and its price will rise even more than the last maximum. Happy traveling and be a middle adopter of Bitcoin to enjoy a brighter future.
New Android malware that mines crypto-currencies
Lookout Mobile Security recently found a new Android malware called Coinkrypt. This type of malware is not harmful as it doesn’t steal personal data or delete anything but instead it uses the smart phone hardware to mine crypto-currencies such us Bitcoin and Litecoin. Mobile hardware is not very powerful to mine Bitcoins with profit but using many smartphones that are not theirs generates profit. In order to be more difficult for users to be suspicious about Coinkrypt, it mines crypto-currencies only when the device is charging. Otherwise, the battery level will drop significantly very fast as mining Bitcoins or any other crypto-currency uses all the available resources if you don’t put a limit. This might also cause heat and damage your device if it is heated for an extensive period of time.
MtGox might still have those Bitcoins
It seems that MtGox users are striking back. Mark Karpeles reddit account hacked and information about balances leaked on that account. The user that posted the leak says that MtGox still has the Bitcoins and most probably Mark Karpeles is lying about the balances. There are 500 million reasons why he would lie about it but I don’t think that everything is going based on his plan (if this was his plan). Leak contains his home address and surprisingly his C.V! I can’t confirm if the data is real but several MtGox users verified their balances. They filed for another bankruptcy protection, this time in US court. This issue needs to be solved and soon.
MtGox fiasco
MtGox, the once largest Bitcoin exchange site lost hundreds thousands of Bitcoins. How is that even possible? Noone believe that such thing can happen without even notice it. Ok, someone claimed he did get his Bitcoins, support checks it and send more, a second one claims the same, be suspicious and investigate it. After you lost 100 Bitcoins, 1000, 10000 it is noticeable, I don’t believe they had to loose more than 700.000 Bitcoins to realize that something is wrong with their system. This must be an inside job, at least 1-2 people were aware of this and they did nothing, or even worse exploited the issue for their own benefit. Many customers of MtGox are very angry and I am afraid that we will see paybacks after the official announcement of their lost money.
Bitcoin Payroll API by BitPay
Most Bitcoin news are coming from BitPay and they don’t stop to surprise us. They announced their new API which allows employers to pay their employees with Bitcoins on a recurring basis. It worth to mention that only the net salary is paid in Bitcoins. It is amazing how far the Bitcoin has come in the last few months and this is just the beginning, it is going to be very huge soon. This also solves the problem of how and where to buy Bitcoins, you get them as a salary or a part of it. BitPay is the leading payment processor for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. They are now adding around 1000 new merchants per week. I dream of the day that it will be possible to buy almost anything with Bitcoins, use it in everyday life and not have to convert it to fiat.