Kenny Spotz

In the United States, the Super Bowl might as well be a de facto gambling holiday. According to the American Gaming Association almost US$4 billion will be gambled on this Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

In a joint op-ed originally published in the London Times, both leaders clarified their commitment to not letting the fear of terrorism influence policy. Calling the world’s response to the Paris attacks one of singular voice, they wrote that “Along with our French allies, we have made clear to those who think they can muzzle freedom of speech and expression with violence that our voices will only grow louder.”

Software provider AlphaPoint could very well be the most important Bitcoin company you’ve never heard of. After first making waves with the announcement of US$1.35 million in funding raised via VC firms and angel investors, they followed up by partnering with Bitfinex to run the Hong Kong-based exchange’s back-end technology.

On Monday, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire announced the launch of the company’s new native apps for both iOS and Android. The apps join an elite class, previously dominated only by Coinbase, of smartphone tools that allow U.S. users to buy or sell Bitcoin on their mobile devices

It’s been a lackluster year for the price of bitcoins. In a few days, fans of the fledgling digital currency will come face to face with a reality that few would have thought possible at this point last year: in a one year time-frame, the price of a bitcoin has fallen.

A beautifully animated new video entitled Bitcoin Properly seeks to ease this frustration. The result of a collaboration between designers Patrick Loonstra and Sebas van den Brink, and entrepreneurs Lykle de Vries and Rutger van Zuidam, Bitcoin Properly points to the blockchain’s ability to replace trusted third parties, a necessity for worldwide commerce, as the key component in what makes this such a revolutionary discovery.

In a Quarter 3 conference call with investors, CEO of Overstock Patrick Byrne expanded on his plans to team up with Counterparty to create a decentralized stock exchange called Medici. Once developed, Byrne says Medici will be a “tollbooth” between the worlds of traditional finance and crypto finance.

I studied economics and this doesn’t make sense to me. From an academic standpoint all I see is vast potential for this technology. Here are the top 4 reasons why economists should love Bitcoin:

Six months ago a Reddit user by the name gramsadmin posted on /r/DarkNetMarkets to announce the launch of a new darknet search engine, Grams.

There are plenty of legitimate economic arguments against Bitcoin. A level of inequality that makes the U.S. look like a “workers’ paradise” is one. The possibility that mining will continue to become more centralized is another. And, while I don’t buy it myself, concerns over the protocol’s deflationary nature are justified if one believes that our collective understanding of economics and monetary policy will be at the same level in 2140 as it is today.

Mike Hearn is one of Bitcoin’s most polarizing figures. I wanted to learn more about this core developer who has helped Bitcoin grow but still holds reservations about its future so I forwarded him a few questions. He was kind enough to respond and you can read the results below.

Fantasy sports has always seemed like a promising area for Bitcoin acceptance. An industry dependent on online payments with over US$1 billion bet in the U.S. each year on fantasy football alone, fantasy sports would benefit greatly from the ability to send money without being subject to PayPal fees.

Can the Average Person Use Bitcoin?

Amir Taaki is a skilled programmer and one of the leading minds behind Dark Wallet, an app that will allow Bitcoin users to easily conduct anonymous transactions.

One of the biggest questions surrounding Bitcoin is why it is worth anything at all. A popular candidate for answering this question is the influence of merchant adoption.