While the number of merchants who take Bitcoin is growing, actually finding a merchant who accepts Bitcoin hasn't been especially easy. Until now.
A major company that provides information on reviews has just added Bitcoin to the data it provides on some 53 million businesses. And we're talking about a company that gets 100 million unique visitors to its Website each month, and offers a very popular mobile app.
This could be huge for Bitcoin adoption…
Now that Bitcoin has shown it can survive a variety of disasters - including an unsavory association with illegal drug buying and the bankruptcy of its biggest exchange - more investors are going to want to jump into the digital currency.
But that means figuring out how to buy bitcoins.
Ever since Bitcoin was launched and achieved success, hedge-fund managers and activist investors have been looking for an investment vehicle for the cryptocurrency. Now they have one with Bitcoin funds.
Money Morning's Defense and Tech Specialist Michael Robinson has been recommending these Bitcoin funds to investors because they are a ground-floor opportunity for Bitcoin profits.
In this video, Robinson details several of these profit opportunities, including the "King of Bitcoin funds," which currently manages a portfolio of 90,000 bitcoins and has achieved a 1,000% return in just three months. But that's not the only fund. Some of these Bitcoin funds even pay weekly dividends to investors.
An investor group called Sunlot Holdings is seeking to revive the failed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has made a deal with the claimants in two class action lawsuits on a proposed settlement.
It's the last best chance for the 127,000 customers of Mt. Gox to recover any of their lost money, which amounted to 750,000 bitcoins.
But the proposal faces one last and very big hurdle...
The reason why the Bitcoin price is falling today is a familiar one: China.
After climbing back to $500 last Thursday, the Bitcoin price started to tumble on news that the People's Bank of China had privately told banks and payment companies to cease all interaction with digital currency companies such as Bitcoin exchanges.
The bankrupt Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange took another step toward oblivion when the Tokyo District Court dismissed its application for civil rehabilitation and steered it on a path to liquidation.
That news is of concern to the 127,000 Mt. Gox customers who had money stuck in accounts there - liquidation usually reduces any restitution.
But the Japanese administrator taking over the Mt. Gox assets left open a possibility that at some point could allow the failed exchange to pay back customers.
After plunging to six-month lows, just last Friday, Bitcoin prices have rebounded 40%. And that's on a day when the Chinese Bitcoin exchanges were supposed to get cut off from their bank accounts.
It seems that, for better or for worse, events in China are driving the price of Bitcoin.
isn't going to change any time soon...
Some in the mainstream media would have you believe that most of those investing in Bitcoin are naïve and unsophisticated fools who don't recognize a bubble when they see one.
But that doesn't explain why some big names in venture capital are pouring millions of dollars into the digital currency, or why Wall Street is growing increasingly interested.
Reports that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) planned to shut down the bank accounts of Chinese Bitcoin exchanges became all too real today (Thursday), as the exchanges began receiving official notices from their respective banks.
The news sent the Bitcoin price today falling as much as 12.4% to a low of $385.32, adding to the losses that started after the first rumors leaked out several weeks ago. Bitcoin prices have fallen from more than $600 in mid-March and more than $800 at the start of the year.
When the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued its guidance on digital currency a few weeks ago, it seemed that Bitcoin investing had gotten some very good news.
See, the IRS had just issued a ruling in which the tax agency said it intended to treat the radical new digital currency as property, not currency.
The Bitcoin market ended the week as it began - trying to sort out how far the Chinese central bank will go in its crackdown on the Chinese exchanges, and how that might affect Bitcoin prices everywhere else in the world.
Mainstream Chinese news outlet Caixin Online was the first to report last week that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) was planning to force Chinese banks to close any accounts they have with Bitcoin exchanges by April 15.
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As Bitcoin use grows, more and more companies are springing up to exploit the unique capabilities of the digital currency, and that means we're seeing more cheap Bitcoin stocks coming to market.
In fact, pretty much all the Bitcoin stocks that have appeared so far are penny stocks. Larger start-ups, like Bitcoin ATM companies Robocoin and Lamassu, may go public at some point, but until then we're left with the Bitcoin penny stocks.
As the rumors of a crackdown by the People's Bank of China have solidified over the past few days, Bitcoin prices have been hit hard.
Last week, we told you that China's central bank was rumored to be planning to force Chinese banks to close any accounts they have with Bitcoin exchanges by April 15.
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Bitcoin prices plunged this week on reports that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) was planning to block banks from providing accounts to Bitcoin-based businesses.
The CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index dropped from about $585 on Wednesday to as low as $477 on Thursday, though by Friday Bitcoin prices were hovering around the $500 level.
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Several surprising developments this week deepened the mystery of where the Mt. Gox bitcoins are.
Much of the Mt. Gox-related Bitcoin news this week has contradicted official statements from the bankrupt exchange and Mt. Gox Chief Executive Officer Mark Karpeles about how the bitcoins were stolen.
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