Bitcoin

Blockchains – Looking beyond the cryptocurrency bust

The past twelve months has seen the crypto-currency bubble well and truly burst. Bitcoin is only the most largest, and hence, most visible digital currency to have lost most of its value. An index of the top thirty cryptocurrencies in use, CCI30 shows that these have lost in excess of 75% of their value since the beginning of the year, a loss that puts even the dot com bust to shame. Despite a lot of PR indicating otherwise, most financial … Read more…

Blockchains – from Digital Currency to Physical Things

A sure sign that a once-emerging technology is becoming mainstream is it being given the full front-page treatment by The Economist. This is what happened to “blockchain” technology, the set of cryptographic techniques that underpin Botcoin, the digital currency, when The Economist referred to it as The Next Big Thing. While I am pretty certain that most that esteemed magazine’s readers would never have come across the term blockchain before, the article was not short of hyperbole, equating its invention in the … Read more…

Microsoft surprise many by accepting bitcoin payments

This week Microsoft announced that it was opening up to accept Bitcoin payments for its Xbox Live platform and Windows and Windows Phone stores through an integration with BitPay, a firm that provides bitcoin payment processing. Initially, bitcoin will be used to top-up Microsoft accounts, rather than to pay directly for a service or payment. Nevertheless, this move makes sense for Microsoft and aligns well with the younger demographic of Xbox Live. It definitely adds a serious dose of credibility … Read more…