Global financial services association BAFT is set to drive bitcoin and blockchain awareness with the launch of its new FinTech scheme. The association, which deals with a wide range of topics affecting transaction banking, launched the initiative in an attempt to draw attention to the various innovative technologies that are currently transforming services such as cross-border payments and trade finance. Tod Burwell, BAFT president and CEO, said: “Emerging technologies such as blockchain technology, distributed ledgers and virtual currencies are redefining how supply chains operate and payments are executed. Our members understand the critical impact this will have on our industry and have made it a top priority.” With the launch, the association will…
Users of bitcoin tipping platform ChangeTip can now send tips in US dollars, a move aimed at capturing users who may be wary of digital currency. Currently, ChangeTip’s service – used across 12 social media platforms – denominates tips in bitcoin, or ‘bits’ (each worth 0.000001 of a bitcoin). However, in a statement today, the company said it is revamping its platform to support US dollar tips, a move that follows credit card support announced in July. Nick Sullivan, founder and CEO of ChangeTip parent company ChangeCoin, said in a statement: “While electronic payments are well-established for online purchases, the concept of empowering everyone on the Internet to express gratitude and appreciation for great people, content, causes and…
Bitcoin payment startup PEY has raised €300,000 ($339,780) in seed funding for a new payroll service. The Hannover-based firm, which makes bitcoin point-of-sale (POS) terminals alongside a consumer app, attracted investment from a series of entrepreneurs, including the former managing director of multinational e-commerce company Zalando, Frank Biedka. Ricardo Ferrer Rivero, founder and managing director at PEY, told CoinDesk: “The new funding will be used to hire developers, pay lawyers for everything necessary to make in-depth checks on what we are offering to customers and to ensure that we find legal workarounds that help expand bitcoin adoption.” PEY will be launching the payroll solution this autumn, enabling companies in Germany – where the…
BitPay has filed suit against a Massachusetts insurance company after losing $1.8m during a phishing attack last December. According to documents obtained by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the bitcoin payment processor was defrauded in mid-December by an unknown individual posing as BTC Media CEO David Bailey, whose computer was infiltrated prior to the attack. The attacker subsequently obtained email credentials for BitPay CFO Bryan Krohn, which were then used to prompt CEO Stephen Pair and executive chairman Tony Gallippi to authorize three payments totalling 5,000 BTC on 11th and 12th December, including one transaction from a wallet on the bitcoin exchange Bitstamp. BitPay filed a claim for the losses days after the event with Massachusetts Bay Insurance…
BitPagos has acquired Unisend Argentina, the country’s first order-book exchange, as part of an undisclosed deal for cash and equity. The announcement follows the sale of the exchange subsidiary Unisend Mexico, and BitPagos’ $1.18m funding round finalized last September. CEO Sebastian Serrano explained that the acquisition will provide BitPagos with a third product offering to complement its existing payment processing service and Ripio, its wallet and brokerage offering. Serrano told CoinDesk: “We want to build the access to bitcoin across Latin America and we thought that part of building that access is building liquidity. It was the next step to start exposing the liquidity generated by merchant services and the consumer side to the…
IBM is working on a new blockchain project for smart contract creation. The Wall Street Journal reports the company’s research arm is using the basic bitcoin codebase to create a new blockchain system that will eventually be released as open-source software. IBM said that “dozens” of employees are involved in the initiative, and that the project is distinct from ADEPT, a proof-of-concept for the Internet of Things unveiled earlier this year. The Journal spoke with IBM research senior vice president Arvind Krishna, who told the newspaper that the company’s blockchain system won’t have an internal currency and will be designed to “ensure that contract details remain private” while making it easier for companies to “embed business…