Tim Draper spoke at the event Blockchain Connect Conference today; he stated, “In five years, if you go to a Starbucks or McDonald's and try to buy a burger or coffee with fiat currency, the person at the counter is going to laugh at you. There's a real need for a currency that's global.”; Draper was an early backer in companies like Skype and Baidu; his interests have since turned to bitcoin and ICOs. Source
Bitcoin exchange Coinbase is reported to have brought in more than $1bn in revenues this past year; according to a report in Recode the revenue figures for Coinbase were supposed to be $600mn but the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas pushed them to over $1bn; the company has also seen spikes in users, with more than 100,000 users signing in over the Thanksgiving day weekend. Source.
Some of biggest bitcoin miners in China have reportedly been looking to set up operations in other Asian countries; there has been conflicting reports out of China is the last week as to what the country is doing when it comes to mining operations; the PBOC has not made official comments yet and the mining overall doesn’t look to slow down as other countries can fill the role of China. Source.
In a note circulated to clients equity research firm D.A. Davidson said Overstock.com is the clear leader in blockchain technology; "Our research increased our conviction that, today and likely in the near-term, Overstock stands head and shoulders above the others" analyst Tom Forte of D.A. Davidson said as reported by Business Insider; the company was the first retailer to accept bitcoin payments and as a result saw their stock rise 265 percent in the last 12 months. Source.
Startups like Salt Lending, Nebeus, CoinLoan and EthLend have all started a new industry by making loans to borrowers using bitcoin as collateral; with the world of bitcoin millionaires growing they will need to buy houses or cars and being able to secure a loan by putting up their bitcoin will allow then to make these purchases; securing a loan for $100,000 could cost a borrower 12 to 20 percent in interest and $200,000 in bitcoin as collateral; the loans could help bitcoin miners secure funding and potentially compete with P2P lenders; it is still early days but the potential is there as more byproducts are coming to light in the bitcoin craze. Source.
Citing low usage numbers by customers and retailers the payments company says they will end all bitcoin related payments by April 23rd; "Empirically, there are fewer and fewer use cases for which accepting or paying with Bitcoin makes sense," Stripe product manager Tom Karlo wrote in the announcement reported by Business Insider; the volatility of price and mining fees also played into the decision by Stripe and has been cited by others as an issue that needs be be addressed. Source.
According to Bloomberg, mining the cryptocurrency is profitable in China as long as the price remains above $6,925; however, China is planning to limit the power usage by miners; Bloomberg provides additional data on electric usage of mining bitcoin. Source
As CoinDesk reports Chinese publication Caixin said that the PBOC did not hold a meeting on shutting down mining activities; the meeting was supposed to be held on January 3rd and meant to focus on banning mining; the news means that the Chinese government is taking a more agnostic approach to bitcoin mining, not endorsing it but at the same time not banning it; more concrete news should surface in the coming months, for now firms like Bixin and ViaBTC will keep operating. Source.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Founders Fund has amasses hundreds of millions of dollars or bitcoin recently; the fund started with about $10mn to $15mn worth of bitcoin and has since seen that initial investment skyrocket; while many traditional wall street names have yet to buy into bitcoin the move by Mr. Thiel and his fund point to their confidence in the currency; during an interview in October Mr. Thiel was reported to say, “While I’m skeptical of most of them, I do think people are a little bit underestimating bitcoin, specifically, because it is like a reserve form of money.” Source.
Bitcoin is the financial phenomenon of the year; Peter Renton, Founder of Lend Academy and Co-Founder of LendIt shares his thoughts on cryptocurrencies as well as a breakdown of his holdings. Source