Mexico’s Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) reportedly became the first institution in Latin America to welcome bitcoin on campus last month, after a coffee shop began accepting payments in the cryptocurrency. In so doing, the university joined a growing list of global higher education institutions which have also embraced the digital currency. Here’s a run-down of some of the most crypto-friendly universities from across the globe. 1. Cyprus’ University of Nicosia In November 2013, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus (UNIC) became the first in the world to accept bitcoin for tuition and other fees, receiving its first payment from a student within weeks. A few months later, UNIC – the largest independent university in Cyprus and one of the…
Billed as a potential venue for debate on more heated issues surrounding the long-term viability of the bitcoin network, Scaling Bitcoin saw a who’s who of developers decamp to Montreal to talk about the underlying technical issues facing bitcoin yesterday. Often reduced in conversation to mentions of its price or market cap, Scaling Bitcoin succeeded at showcasing the breadth of challenges posed by bitcoin’s approach to incentivizing disparate parties to maintain a common and equally beneficial distributed resource. Held in Montreal, day one of the much-anticipated event focused more on how incentivizes for network participants should be balanced and less on the positives and negatives of any of the competing proposals – whether Bitcoin Core, its…
Bitcoin in the Headlines is a weekly analysis of bitcoin media coverage and its impact. After weeks of relative quiet, the bitcoin and blockchain industry got a much needed publicity boost this week as startups raised $45m in newly announced venture capital rounds. The vast majority of the attention was awarded to one blockchain technology startup, San Francisco-based Chain, which turned heads for attracting an impressive cast of VC investors to its $30m Series B round. Investors involved included financial incumbents such as US bank holding company Capital One, financial services technology provider Fiserv and global credit card giant Visa. Also contributing to the round were US stock exchange Nasdaq; Citi Ventures; and former Bank of America CEO David Coulter….
Cash and gifts-in-kind are the two main types of relief when it comes to assisting those who have suffered in the face of natural disasters, but bitcoin is becoming an ever more popular option. In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, over $14bn was pledged by the international community for the relief and recovery of the 14 countries affected by the natural disaster – one of the deadliest recorded in history. Paul Currion, an independent consultant for humanitarian organisations, told CoinDesk this “huge outpour of public support” meant a lot of organisations had more funding than they could easily process and distribute. Cash donations can be favoured over in-kind donations, with the latter having been criticised in the past for making it…
Few groups have been as early and as active in attempting to understand the implications of digital currency and blockchain technology as US law enforcement. Despite expanded use and investment, cryptographic currencies such as bitcoin continue to be widely used for illicit activities. Dark market operators and extortionists were early and aggressive in their attempts to capitalize on the digital payment network and its cash-like approach to transactions, a trend that continues. As evidence, the Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California (DOJ), appointed Kathryn Haun as its first Digital Currency Crimes Coordinator this June. The position finds Haun heading up a multi-agency task force in San Francisco and comprised of…
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…