Silicon Valley Firm Opens Program Exclusively for Bitcoin Start-ups Plug and Play Tech Center, which has three locations in Silicon Valley, was one of the seed investors that placed capital into Paypal back when it was just a fledgling start-up. Of course, Paypal is now a mature company which no longer needs venture capital. Now, however, after realizing the potential that Paypal had to change the financial world and the way payments are made, Plug and Play Tech Center has turned its attention to yet another start-up with an equal or greater potential the change the financial world: Bitcoin. Entrepreneur …continue reading

Pennsylvania Shop is First in U.S. to Accept Bitcoin The Subway restaurant chain, with 40,735 restaurants in 102 countries, has not adopted nor is officially accepting Bitcoin as a payment form. However, being a franchise model, each restaurant is independently owned and operated, and one owner in Pennsylvania – the first owner in the U.S. and second globally – has decided to begin accepting Bitcoin as payment for its sandwiches. Coindesk is reporting: “The shop, in Allentown, Pennslyvania in the US, is the second bitcoin-accepting Subway to come to light after an outlet in Moscow was found to be offering …continue reading

Using Nasdaq Technology, Exchange Can Process Millions of Trades Per Second Techcrunch is reporting that Bitcoin exchange itBit has raised another $3.25 million to further enhance its Bitcoin trading exchange. By offering state of the art security, bank-like compliance, and Nasdaq exchange technology that can handle millions of trades per second, itBit is seeking to lure institutional investors in the rapidly growing virtual currency. From the Techcrunch story: “There are a number of Bitcoin exchanges out there today, but a new startup called itBit hopes to legitimize the market by providing bank-like security and compliance. This newest Bitcoin exchange has raised …continue reading

The Number of Bitcoin Merchants Continues to Grow Exponentially Coindesk is reporting that Online powerhouse Shopify has just integrated Bitcoin as a payment option. Shopify’s 70,000+ merchants will now have the ability and infrastructure to accept Bitcoin as an available payment form. This is another very encouraging development for the Bitcoin community. From the Coindesk article: “Popular e-commerce platform Shopify announced earlier today it would add a bitcoin payment option for its sellers. With a base of over 70,000 online stores, the number of goods that can potentially be purchased with bitcoin has expanded once again. With current values putting …continue reading

Bitcoin Spreads to Real Estate in China One billion people in China have a new payment option when purchasing real estate: Bitcoin. KapronAsia is reporting that the giant Shanda Group, through its real estate development arm, is accepting Bitcoin as payment for apartments in its Zhangjiang Hi-Tech park project. From the article: “Bitcoin acceptance in China has now extended into real estate with a residential developer in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech park in Shanghai finding a new way to promote sales through the acceptance of Bitcoin virtual currency. Shanda Group, one of the large IT giants in China, through its real estate …continue reading