CoinDesk’s inaugural conference took place at the TimesCenter in the heart of New York today, with over 500 guests in attendance. Garrick Hileman, a CoinDesk analyst and economic historian at London School of Economics, kicked off the day’s sessions with an overview of the current state of bitcoin and blockchain technology. Next was the day’s first panel, Trust, Permissions, Openness: The Future of Innovation on the Blockchain, moderated by Emin Gun Sirer of Cornell University and featuring Adam Ludwin, of Chain.com; Greg Maxwell of Blockstream; Bitcoin XT developer Mike Hearn of – joining via video link – and Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum. The panellists explored the obstacles facing greater adoption and possible applications of blockchain…
CoinDesk’s inaugural event – Consensus 2015 – is taking place at the TimesCenter in New York today. Find out what’s happening right now with our live blog below and find out what’s coming next with our conference agenda. Live image via Shutterstock Consensus 2015 Previous Article Funding Raised by Bitcoin Hardware Wallet ‘Case’ Reaches… Next Article Bitcoin-to-Cash App Abra Raises $12 Million Series A Related Stories Feature Sep 10, 2015 at 11:00 | Pete Rizzo Digital Currency Crimes Chief: DOJ Has No Bitcoin Agenda DOJ Digital Currency Crimes Coordinator Kathryn Haun discusses the common ground her agency shares with innovators in bitcoin and blockchain. News Sep 10, 2015 at 00:50 | CoinDesk Blockchain Insurance Solution Wins Consensus 2015…
Day one of the CoinDesk Consensus 2015 Makeathon brought together more than 60 developers, industry experts and students with the goal of developing new solutions using blockchain tech. Held at New York-based co-working space General Assembly and sponsored by Braintree, Chain, Coinbase and KeepKey, the two-day event involves 16 teams competing to win $5,000 in cash or a digital currency of their choosing. The teams are focused on solutions for financial inclusion or financial infrastructure, with interesting early solutions emerging. At the end of the morning’s brainstorming session, teams had already committed to work projects as diverse as an open accounting protocol and microlending solutions for rural communities. As explained by Citi senior vice…
Consensus 2015 is set to take over the TimesCenter building on Thursday (10th September), for a one-day summit to examine the real-world potential of bitcoin and blockchain technology. Besides being CoinDesk’s inaugural conference, the event – with over 50 speakers and 450 attendees – will see a number of ‘firsts’. Here, we’ve handpicked a few to look out for over the course of the day. FBI and IRS agents open up Back in June, DEA agent Carl Force VI and Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges made headlines following allegations they had stolen over $700,000 worth of bitcoin while running the Baltimore Silk Road investigation. Bridges has since entered a plea deal, while Force, who has pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, money laundering…
When digital card platform Gyft first integrated bitcoin payments, they accounted for 90% of the company’s sales, with PayPal and credit cards making up the remaining 10%, but this has all changed, according to the firm’s co-founder and CEO Vinny Lingham. The California-based company, acquired by First Data in 2014, integrated bitcoin payments in 2013 and initially saw a trend for this payment method, but this has since reversed – PayPal and credit card purchases now account for 90% of sales. Regardless, Lingham continues to be fascinated by bitcoin. In fact, it’s fair to say his personal fascination with the digital currency led to Gyft offering it as a payment option in the first place. Lingham told CoinDesk: “The reason we started…