Bitcoin goes mainstream: Circle’s payments make cryptocurrencies easy

A bitcoin ATM machine is shown at a restaurant in San Diego, California Photograph: MIKE BLAKE/Reuters

Better funded, more secure and taking on Paypal head-on, the forthcoming wave of bitcoin firms are trying hard to make the currency mainstream

Alex Hern
Monday 29 September 2014 08.00 EDT

A new Bitcoin bank called Circle opens its doors to the public on Monday, following a stealth development period which saw it raise $25m from some of Silicon Valley’s biggest venture capitalists.

The service, which launches its web app worldwide on Monday and promises to follow-up with Android and iOS apps in the near-future, is one of the most aggressive attempts so far to take Bitcoin payments mainstream.

Founded by Netscape alum Jeremy Allaire and long-running collaborator Sean Neville, Circle’s offering is, on the surface little different from a number of other Bitcoin “wallet” services, such as those provided by competitors such as Blockchain or Coinbase. Users can transfer cash in using a bank account or debit card, which is then converted into bitcoin by Circle; and they can spend their bitcoins online or in physical shops with ease.

Continue reading full article at http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/29/bitcoin-circle-cryptocurrency-jeremy-allaire?CMP=twt_gu

Bitcoin gets a boost as US watchdog approves first swap.

By Douwe Miedema

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – TeraExchange on Friday launched a swap based on the bitcoin virtual currency, becoming the first to receive approval from a U.S. federal regulator for a financial product based on the budding technology.

The derivative allows clients to protect the value of their bitcoin holdings by locking in a dollar value, offering an insurance against the astronomical price swings that have plagued the computer-generated currency.

“For a merchant to take bitcoin, there wasn’t until this product a regulated way for them to put on a hedge to manage the risk … and now with this product they can,” Christian Martin, who heads TeraExchange, told Reuters.

Unlike conventional money, bitcoin is independent of control or backing by any government – something its advocates like, but that has also led to calls for more oversight and raised questions as to how to treat it for tax purposes.

See full article here at Reuters.com