News – Page 8

The new Ripple, a decentralized exchange, a payment system, and a currency all its own

Julia Dixon on February 5, 2013

Out very soon, the new version of Ripple has has undergone a dramatic renovation.

Ripple was created by Ryan Fugger in 2006 as a trust network where people can grant each other credit, and anyone can ‘be their own bank’. The project has since been acquired by a team of developers including Mt. Gox creator Jed McCaleb. Ryan’s trust network is still there, but it is now one feature of a much expanded system.

The new features of the soon to be open source software include the possibility for a decentralized currency exchange, a p2p transaction network, “Gateways” for bringing other currencies into the system, and Ripples (XRP), a new digital currency.

Bloomberg: Bitcoin’s Gains May Fuel Central Bank Concerns

Julia Dixon on January 29, 2013

In their ‘Chart of the Day’ post Bloomberg notes that “An increase in the value of bitcoin, the world’s largest online currency, may fuel concerns that virtual money could undermine the role of central banks.”

Coding in my Sleep: Dwolla Begins PayPal-Style Account Suspensions

Julia Dixon on January 25, 2013

Dwolla is a popular method of moving funds between USD and Bitcoin largely because they “claimed zero chance of chargebacks and appeared to be a small business run by decent people who weren’t necessarily Bitcoin-friendly but at least didn’t seem to be Bitcoin hostile.”

However it seems that Dwolla is going the way of PayPal and has now begun suspending accounts do to ‘suspicious activity’, especially the accounts of user who it suspects are acting as a virtual currency exchange, forbidden in it user agreement. And it seems this move may be due to regulatory pressure.

Iowa now accepting some tax payments via Dwolla

Julia Dixon on January 24, 2013

According to Fast Company, Iowa has begun accepting some tax payments via Dwolla. The cigarette stamp tax, which generates around $100 million for Iowa, will be the first tax that Iowans will be able to pay via Dwolla. However the Governor, Terry Brandstand, says he’d consider expanding Dwolla payments to other fees and taxes in the future as well.

Two Bitcoin Conferences in 2013

Julia Dixon on January 21, 2013

The two conferences will cover different topics and will be held in California and Vienna.

The first, sponsored by the Bitcoin Foundation, will be held in San Jose California on May 17-19 and is titled “The Future of Payments”. Discussion will be on Bitcoin technology, Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin business and regulatory issues.

The second, in Vienna November 1-3, is titled “unSYSTEM”. This conference, as Bitcoin Magazine put it, “is pushing even further in the direction of activism.” Many of the speakers are known activist rather than Bitcoin developers or entrepreneurs.

Bitcoin winning over the goldbugs?

Julia Dixon on January 17, 2013

GATA begins accepting donations in bitcoin.

GoldMoney Mulls Bitcoin Integration.

IEEE: Ripple Credit System Could Help or Harm Bitcoin

Julia Dixon on January 16, 2013

I’ve been hearing a lot about the new version of Ripple, both excitement and criticism. while I have yet to read up on the specifics of the version due to out this month, I am both intrigued by the possibility of decentralized exchange and concerned with developer Ryan Fugger’s original goal for Ripple as ‘debt money without artificially imposed scarcity.’ I can’t imagine unlimited debt money as a serious competitor to Bitcoin, however, the IEEE seems to disagree with me. In the below review they speak with Ripple’s developers and beta testers.

“Within a few weeks, a new option will be available: a system called Ripple, which allows individuals to create credit and disburse it to people within a peer-to-peer social network. The project could be used to implement what many Bitcoiners have been asking for—a decentralized currency exchange. But if the more-ambitious parts of the design pan out, the credit created in Ripple could itself become a new form of digital currency and the first formidable competition for Bitcoin.”

GATA Fundraiser and Sovereign Social Jan 19th in Vancouver

Julia Dixon on January 11, 2013

The members and shareholders of The Sovereign Exchange will be in Vancouver on Saturday afternoon, January 19th, at 4:00 PM, for a private networking event with Chris Powell and Bill Murphy, Secretary and Chairman of The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee, who will speak about their most recent efforts to influence transparency in the metal’s markets.

Introducing the DGC Digital Currency Wiki

Julia Dixon on January 9, 2013

In keeping with our goal of being the best source for news and information on monetary alternatives, we have created the DGC Digital Currency Wiki.

We plan for this wiki to be a source of information on different digital currencies, currency providers, supporting technology, terminology, digital currency structures and business models, etc.

The plan had been for the Wiki to contain a large amount of content prior to announcing it. However, it seems that I have a chronic problem with dramatically over estimating the amount of time in the day. As such, we are introducing it now and will continue to add content when we can.

Editing can only be done after registration for spam avoidance purposes.

-Julia

Can’t keep Indians from their gold

Julia Dixon on January 5, 2013

In 2011 Indian’s imported a record 969 tons of gold. Imports have more than doubled since 2008.

In India gold is still seen as money and is commonly purchased for savings. According to the All India Gems & Jewellery Trade Federation “In a country like India, there is no scheme for social security, and investment in gold is like social security.”

As the rupee weakens and the country’s current account deficit grows, 80% is attributed to gold imports, the Indian government is trying a number of methods to reduce demand. But try as they might, they can’t seem to keep Indians from their gold.