Ever since Amsterdam started its very own Bitcoin City initiative, merchants have been chomping at the bit to be a part of the Bitcoin revolution in the capital of the Netherlands. Even though the Amsterdam Bitcoin City initiative only started in November 2014, 24 merchants have signed up so far and are now all accepting Bitcoin payments.
One of the reasons why this initiative is so successful is the partnership between Bitstraat and BitPay. Bitstraat allows retailers to accept Bitcoin payments in a fast and professional way, all payments are converted to Euro and there are no fees involved whatsoever. All of these benefits make accepting Bitcoin payments very attractive to brick and mortar stores.
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Bitcoin Auction Winner Draper to Bid Again in December
Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper, the sole winner
in a June auction of about 30,000 bitcoins, said he plans to bid again when the
U.S.
“I am a big believer in bitcoin, and I believe it to be one of the most important technologies that have come along in our lifetime,” Draper said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. “The price is even better than the last auction.”
The U.S. Silk Road marketplace was shut down last year and its
operator, Ross William Ulbricht, was arrested.
Draper, co-founder of investment firm Draper
Fisher Jurvetson, paid an undisclosed sum in the last auction, which attracted
45 bidders. The 30,000 bitcoins were worth about $19 million based on exchange
prices at the time.
Since then, the value of bitcoins has declined
about 42 percent to $373.64 apiece today, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin
Price Index, which represents an average of bitcoin prices across leading
global exchanges. That values that 50,000 being auctioned at almost $19
million.
In June, Draper said he planned to help provide
access to bitcoins in developing economies and use the bitcoins won in the
auction as a source of liquidity.
“I have made 17 investments in bitcoin companies so far, and I plan to make more,” Draper wrote in the e-mail.