CryptoDigest@Steem Monday, April 17, 2017

Dear Steemians!

Here is the daily press review for bitcoin and other crypto currencies.

Should You Accept Cryptocurrency In Your Small Business?
As for you — as a business owner — don’t have to share your hard-earned revenue with that third party financial institutions. With cryptocurrency transactions, customers don’t have to share personal data when making purchases because they rely on a send-only protocol, meaning that counterfeiting and identity theft are decreased because there aren’t any number for hacker to steal. Having your customers already familiar with cryptocurrencies is a plus and can be a major assist for your business since they actively seek out businesses that accept digital currencies. It actually depends on your business’s particular situation and needs, but for the most part, cryptocurrencies can offer the following advantage for business owners. Does that mean that accepting cryptocurrencies is the right fit for your business? (nasdaq.com)

Op-ed: Is Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex in Trouble?
Following CFTC’s fine, Bitfinex now appears to be courting regulator’s attention, with Wells Fargo’s action seemingly suggesting banks may be moving in. For Chinese exchanges, we know PBoC has forced them to halt withdrawals, allegedly temporarily, but until they do re-start normal operations we won’t quite know. Their site doesn’t have an about us page, so we don’t quite know. The exchange, for example, froze twice around June last year, leading to a price crash in bitcoin of around $100 each time. We don’t quite know why it really froze. (cryptocoinsnews.com)

Depositing Is Secure With Bitcoin Gambling
Once you have funded your bitcoin wallet, all you have to do is find a bitcoin casino that will accept the currency. When you visit reputable bitcoin casino sites like bitcoincasino.us, you will find that their transaction processing services are designed for speed. When you make a deposit at this bitcoin casino, you will instantly gain secure access to your deposit and begin playing games immediately. You can choose from a variety of different bitcoin wallet providers and they all come with different benefits. This means that regardless of geographic location, a player can make a secure deposit from virtually anywhere. (newsbtc.com)

Bitcoin Payments Cheaper & Safer Than Credit Cards: Cointed
The Bitcoin Debit cards basically function as prepaid cards denominated in a particular currency opening up Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency to a world of buying options even when traditional payment options are actually used. Cointed is a rather young, but fast-growing Bitcoin exchange located in Kufstein, Austria. Wishing to open their services for global customers, Cointed will, first of all, make the webpage available in multiple languages. The Bitcoin Debit Card is one of the ways to bridge cryptocurrency world with that of traditional finance. Besides that, the company is extending their services launching Buy Gold with Bitcoin service, smart payment solutions for companies PayCo and Bitcoin Debit Card. (cointelegraph.com)

The Incredible Rise of FIRST BITCOIN CAP COM NPV (OTCMKTS:BITCF)
Keep in mind – Bitcoin Unlimited does not exist yet, so Bitcoin Unlimited Futures are not based on an underlying physical asset (as you might expect in other futures markets), it is simply based on a concept for Bitcoin Unlimited. First Bitcoin Cap Com NPV (OTCMKTS: BITCF) is a quickly becoming an exciting way to play the fork in the Bitcoin road. That’s why traders have been flocking to First Bitcoin Cap Com NPV (OTCMKTS: BITCF), which has become a way to play this “hard fork” in the Bitcoin road. FIRST BITCOIN CAP COM NPV (OTCMKTS:BITCF) shares are currently trading at $0.449, giving the company a market capitalization of $135.26 million. For any trader trying to get ahead of the “hard fork,” BITCF has been the place to be. (oracledispatch.com)

CME Patent Sees Derivatives Opportunity in Bitcoin Mining
The filing is notable as bitcoin mining, the process by which new transactions are added to the bitcoin blockchain, is a kind of commodities production. Derivatives giant CME Group is looking to patent a way for bitcoin miners to hedge against operational risks. Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, in which CME Group is an investor. With the mining derivative, "a miner can lock in a projected growth rate of the difficulty factor", the patent filing reads. As detailed in a patent application published last week by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the proposed system would receive data from the bitcoin network as a means of keeping contracts up to date – monitoring metrics like network difficulty and price. (coindesk.com)

Bitcoin User Donates US$100 To Philadelphia Resident Who Had His Bike Stolen
One Reddit user in Philadelphia got his bike stolen while ensuring a day out, which is never a fun experience. While this is usually done in small amounts, one user effectively tipped US$98.28 to the Reddit user thanks for the platform’s built-in Minitip solution. Thankfully, it looks like the original bike owner has seen some positive support as well. Having your bike stolen after entering a church for all but two minutes goes to show some people have no decency whatsoever. It is quite interesting to see how little attention this bitcoin transaction has gotten outside the cryptocurrency community, though. (livebitcoinnews.com)

Roger Ver Defends Bitcoin Unlimited, Says Core Deviated: CT Exclusive
Roger Ver, the owner of Bitcoin.com and the main proponent of Bitcoin Unlimited, denies that BU is anti-Bitcoin. When Cointelegraph posed the question what makes BU better than SegWit, Ver explained:However, Ver is convinced time will tell whether BU is going to win this scaling battle that is hurting the ecosystem so much. Consequently, he has assured the Bitcoin community BU’s recent quality control issues will be resolved in time as the number of participants and users continues to increase. On Friday, Akin Fernandez, owner of the Bitcoin startup Azteco, made those allegations against BU."This is a lie that has been spread by some supporters of Core," Ver countered. He maintains there are plenty of smart people around the world who are capable of learning about and working on Bitcoin. (cointelegraph.com)

BitCoin Wallets Under Attack from Hackers
A Beginner’s Guide to the Internet of Things (readitquik.com)

What is Replace-by-fee?
Until then, replace-by-fee is a solution that will help a lot of people, even though it eventually results in them paying a higher transaction fee. Their solution comes in the form of a feature called replace-by-fee, which allows for low-fee transactions to be rebroadcasted and include a higher fee. There is also a feature known as first-seen-safe replace-by-fee, or FSS RBF, of which a more technical explanation can be found here. While this process may sound cumbersome to use, virtually all major bitcoin wallets have enabled replace-by-fee in the user interface, making it quite a convenient and nifty feature. Replace-by-fee is an opt-in feature that is not mandatory by any means. (themerkle.com)

Jihan Wu: Chinese Government Won't Aggressively Regulate Bitcoin
Bitcoin entrepreneur Jihan Wu has spoken out and said that the Chinese government only wants to control the risk of bitcoin for investors who don’t know much about it. In a report from ABC News, Wu, who operates Bitmain, a Beijing-based company that develops and sells the world’s leading bitcoin miner hardware using Bitmain’s ASIC chip technology, said:“Potentially [the PBOC] could shut down all the Chinese bitcoin exchanges,” he added. In February, digital currency exchange BTCC announced that it was halting its Bitcoin and Litecoin withdrawals as Chinese regulators updated their anti-money laundering measures. However, he added that he didn’t think the government would conduct aggressive regulation over the digital currency, stating:This news comes after the fact that the PBoC has recently taken an increased interest in Chinese exchanges. As the discussion surrounding the potential bitcoin hard fork increases, many proponents are coming out in support of either Bitcoin Unlimited (BU) or SegWit as the potential solutions to the digital currency’s backlog issue. (cryptocoinsnews.com)

Bitwage Upgrades Bitcoin Payroll Service for EU Customers
Bitcoin startup Bitwage has moved to improve its payroll service for customers based in the EU, launching a new upgrade aimed at speeding up the process for users in the region. Bitwage said today it is now offering unique International Bank Account Number (IBAN) to EU customers who subscribe to its premium service, as well as those who see monthly transaction volumes in excess of €1,999. An IBAN is a unique string of numbers signifying a specific bank account, and should see customers able to access wages more quickly. Founded in 2013, the startup provides a means for employers to pay their workers in bitcoin or fiat currencies, using bitcoin as a way to quickly move money worldwide. "With our new unique IBANs, users receiving wages for EU companies no longer need to create deposit claims, as payment descriptions are no longer required for these transactions," the startup said in a statement. (coindesk.com)

Millions in Minutes: How Polychain Makes Sense of the ICO Wild West
Unique to Polychain, however, is the $10m mandate its received from VC firms Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures. For Polychain, that means continuing to invest in talented and robust teams, just like VC firms historically have. Take Cosmos, a project aiming to build an 'internet of blockchains' that raised $16.8m in 30 minutes last week. In a sense, anything that could be considered an existing security isn't of interest to the firm. This makes it an interesting differentiator, Carlson-Wee said, though even he isn't yet sure if the feature will create value. (coindesk.com)

More details on these and other related news can be found at http://zentrade.online/bitcoin-news-digest-monday-april-17-2017/