BitBuzz Daily: Senate hearings and that price surge - A roundup of bitcoin news from around the web

If you are reading this, unless you have been hiding under a rock recently, you are probably already aware that the price of bitcoin exploded to new heights, hitting $750 overnight. That, apparently is due to a surge in trading over in Asia as reported by CNBC and also an expectation that the Senate hearings into digital currency, held by US Homeland Security, will have a favourable outcome for bitcoin.

On that note, and as expected, much of the bitcoin news around today, is related to those hearings of course and so far, according to Timothy B. Lee at The Washington Post, it has been a bit of a bitcoin love fest.

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, chaired by Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), is holding the first congressional hearing on the future of Bitcoin. The first panel features senior figures from the Obama administration. And their comments about Bitcoin have been remarkably positive.

After the officials gave their opening statements, Carper's first question drew a parallel to the Internet. He pointed out that in the early days of the Internet revolution, many people raised concerns about illicit use of Internet technologies. Yet in the long run, he argued, the Internet has had a hugely beneficial effect on peoples lives, making possible previously unimagined services like Facebook and YouTube. Carper wanted to know if the witnesses saw Bitcoin in the same light.

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One of the people testifying at this week's hearings is Jerry Brito, who believes if the US come down too harshly on bitcoin, it will go elsewhere. In his piece for The Guardian, he looks at how the debate over the growth of bitcoin hinges on US regulation and if they try to exert too much control, the States will end up losing out to countries such as China and Canada.

If the United States does not foster a reasonable regulatory environment for Bitcoin, the country might soon lose its head start in what could be the next great technological revolution. That's the message policymakers should hear today and tomorrow when the US Senate holds hearings on the virtual currency.

While Bitcoin is an international phenomenon, the United States has been central to its growth to date. Bitcoin's lead developer, Gavin Andresen, is an American based in the United States, as is the Bitcoin Foundation that employs him. The most innovative startups building out Bitcoin's infrastructure are also US-based. These include the merchant services provider Bitpay in Atlanta, backed by PayPal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, and the consumer-friendly wallet service Coinbase in Silicon Valley, backed by early Twitter funders Union Square Ventures.

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What these Senate hearings and price rise have done, if nothing else, is suddenly push bitcoin into the spotlight in mainstream press. The Telegraph in the UK published this article about the price surge and the hearings are also covered by Ryan Tracy in The Wall Street Journal here.

In Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald mentions how the Senate Committee have been told bitcoin is “a legal means of exchange.”

And, yes, all of the above, comment on the price of bitcoin, which, you will now know soared ahead of the hearings. When everyone starts talking about the new highs reached, China usually comes into the conversation. This article on CNN by Stan Stalnaker explains why China wants to dominate bitcoin.

China is quietly positioning itself to dominate the brave new world of Bitcoin.

Until recently the digital cyrptocurrency was considered a joke by the financial mainstream, but the view is starting to shift now that prices have surged above their April peak and are now hovering around $600.

Bitcoins are still being viewed cautiously by lawmakers and regulators in the United States. In fact, there are two Senate hearings this week about the risks Bitcoin poses. But that is decidedly not the case in China. There has been a steady drumbeat of positive news in the Chinese press this year, including a landmark report on CCTV, China's national television network.

China's fascination with the currency upstart resulted in an estimated 40,000 client downloads a day and a burgeoning acceptance rate from online retailers down to physical traders standing in Tiananmen Square.

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A very Senate hearing and bitcoin-price centric roundup today but it’s what the world is talking about right now and I am not sure that will change much this week!

Bitcoin in the palm of your hand: Tell us what you think!

Hello again!

Apologies for having been a little quiet over the past couple of weeks but this is due to the fact we’ve been working pretty hard on a very exciting BitScan project and we are now ready to announce the results of that work.

Over the past few months we have been having a think about what the bitcoin community needs and judging from social media, news, forums, and conversations with fellow bitcoiners, what it really wants. We know the success of bitcoin relies on its continued growth and expansion into the mainstream so we've just been working hard to try to create something that will be of benefit to everyone. 

We realised that there are several key users of bitcoins, from traders and merchants, savers and investors, to those just wanting to find out more and learn what bitcoin is really about and how it works, and, importantly, where can they spend it…

We realised people needed access to exchange information in all the major, global currencies; they needed access to news and information, and critically, at times, some clue as to what was happening on the markets. We thought people might find it useful to be able to check the value of their own bitcoin holdings in their wallets in real time, without having to constantly log in to their wallet client.  Finally, what would be really useful, what would let people new to bitcoin see how functional it really is, would be information as to where they could spend those bitcoins in said wallets. 

A comprehensive directory of many of the businesses that take bitcoin around the world is not a new idea. But a directory, categorised with relevant information and – best of all, a map, to show where these business are actually located and which businesses can be found near where you live or happen to be at any given time, that was hard to find. And what about business owners themselves who want to list their business in such a directory or even sell one or two items from their business in a classified listing? Well, we thought about that as well.

We also realised that a lot of that information could be found by scouring the web and searching endlessly on Google via many different websites: Until now.

What if you could access all of that information and all of those resources on the one gadget you carry around with you all the time?

What if there was one app, which enabled you to do and find all of the above? 

Drum roll please…!

We would like to introduce to you, the new BitScan app!

We have to admit, we are pretty excited about this. It is the fruits of many months of planning, researching, talking, head-scratching, late nights and early starts, but at the end of the day, it will only work if you love it.

This is why we want to offer you an opportunity to test it out, and most importantly, give us your thoughts and opinions. After all, we created this app with the bitcoin community in mind and so it is you, the bitcoin community, we want to hear from.

At the current time, we have only got an iOS version for iphone ready but an Android version is in the pipeline. Please bear with us Android users (we know there are plenty of you!) 

If you would like to give it a go and download our beta version, please let us know and we can invite you to do so. We welcome any feedback and would be grateful for your advice and support going forward during this final phase of development.

Thank you for your patience as we have withdrawn from our ususal BitScan duties and in the meantime, check out what our app has to offer:

You’re familiar with our daily analysis and that is all contained within the app, including a calendar search function to choose which day’s commentary you want to view.

Our features will be available in the BitBuzz section, which will also include a daily roundup of the best bitcoin and financial or consumer news from around the web.

Added to this we have a Portfolio feature, allowing you to keep track of your bitcoin holdings in numerous addresses in real time, tracked against the exchange of your choice.

On to the Exchange section: here the app offers four customisable panels, in which you can choose the exchange and currency you wish to track. Each panel slides across so that you can view charts and spreads.

Finally, the Trade section. It already features thousands of bitcoin businesses around the world. You can search for businesses by filtering the categories or click on the map to see what bitcoin businesses are in your area or across the globe.

What’s more, if you are a merchant who is always on the move, our phone-toggle feature will allow you to link your phone to our map so that people can find you wherever you are.

The classifieds section allows you to list an item for sale in bitcoins and this can be submitted via your handset.

Not only can you submit a classified through the app, but you can also refer a business. If you know of or spot a business that accepts bitcoins, but which does not currently feature in our directory – let us know. We’ll even make it worth your while because if that business pays for premium advertising with us, you will get a 10% cut of any revenue that listing generates. Can’t say fairer than that.

You can probably tell we're just a little bit excited about this new app - and our brand spanking new website, which will be launched alongside very soon. 

We hope you’ll find it a sleek, user-friendly, yet very functional app, packed full of features. We also hope you’ll agree with us that this is something the bitcoin community as a whole can benefit from - but we await your judgement.

As we mentioned, unfortunately, at this moment in time, it is only available to those with an iPhone but if you would like to give it a go and offer us your feedback, we're all ears! Please email us: askbitscan@gmail.com and we'll be in touch...

Louise @ Bitscan