Bitcoin Weekly: Bitcoin Gets New Specs, New Mining Pool and Rumored Ban

CoinReport’s Bitcoin Weekly

DirectPool: The New Mining Pool

This week started of with DirectPool. A brand new and exciting Bitcoin mining pool that has entered the bitcoin mining arena. DirectPool says it is the next generation mining pool that has a low pool fee and a goal to give back to the Bitcoin community. According to their press release, any donations given through DirectPool will be used to fund Bitcoin related projects in collaboration with Bitcoin Business Alliances.

Dorian Nakamoto Denounces Newsweek’s Article

Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto who Newsweek claimed to be Bitcoin’s creator, denied any involvement in the digital currency. Felix Salmon, Reuters blogger, posted Dorian’s message on his twitter page. Dorian says in the message,

“I did not create, invent, or otherwise work on Bitcoin. I unconditionally deny the Newsweek report.”

In addition to denying being Bitcoin’s founder, Dorian says that he never agreed to be interviewed by Leah Goodman, the Newsweek journalist. In fact, he had called the police.

In the message, Dorian says that he is still trying to recover from prostate surgery and a stroke. Therefore, the stress he’s received from the Newsweek’s article has disrupted his and his family’s life. Dorian also says that the false report has caused “a great deal of confusion and stress” to his entire family.

Exec Chairman of Google Likes Bitcoin Even Though Warren Buffet Doesn’t!

In a CNBC interview, Warren Buffet, a legendary investor, has warned people to stay away from Bitcoin because he thinks of the virtual currency as a mirage. Even though Buffet doesn’t exactly like Bitcoin very much, he does concede that,

“It’s a very effective way of transmitting money and you can do it anonymously and all that.”

However, Buffet continues and says that even checks transmit money. This means that Bitcoin’s only asset in Buffet’s view is not really an asset at all.

On the other hand, the executive chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt said,

“Bitcoin is a remarkable crypto-graphic achievement and the ability to create something which is not ‘duplicable’ in the digital world has enormous value.”

Schmidt sees Bitcoin’s value and the importance to further develop and enhance the Bitcoin technology. Even though Google is paying more attention to Bitcoin, it has yet to confirm whether or not it accepts Bitcoin.

Regulators Issue Bitcoin Warnings

Regulators in Massachusetts issued a strong warning against the potential risks of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. This warning came from the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulations (OCABR) after the second Bitcoin ATM was installed in Boston, according to new site Boston Globe.

People were advised “to proceed with caution” because Bitcoin and other digital currencies are volatile in their value, and are capable of being hacked.

Cyprus joins Massachusetts and the worldwide evaluation on Bitcoin. According to to incyprus, the Central Bank and the Ministries of Finance and Commerce issued a Bitcoin warning to the public. This warning was made to highlight the risks of Bitcoin and other digital currencies. However, the Central Bank of Cyprus announced previously that Bitcoin isn’t illegal.

This means that you can still trade with Bitcoin in Cyprus, but the digital currency is not backed by anything other than itself.

Blockchain.info Experiences Problems & Fixes Them

Early in the week, Blockchain.info, one of the major wallet and block explorer services was experiencing some problems that caused an outage in the system. The Blockchain team explained that the problem was not because of any hack attacks or strange activities. In fact, the Blockchain.info experienced technical issues that were due to a “database error and resulted in suspension of services.”

Blockchain posted a detailed response explaining the issue on its blog,

“It was simply the result of an obscure bug and a combination of technical factors that expressed this bug under heavy load.”

The next day, BlockChain.info issued a release that stated that everything was back to normal. The system’s explorer, API functions and web wallet services have been restored after the technical glitch in the system. The statement said,

“You will now be able to access the services exactly as you did before the outage. Just log in using your browser or mobile application and enter your password and second-factor authentication, if enabled. Your wallet has not been affected by the outage and everything should be exactly as you left it.”

The Bitcoin Software Gets New Specs!

The software behind Bitcoin’s network was upgraded with security additions addressing transaction malleability and new features. Bitcoin-QT, the open-source software, is now called the “Bitcoin Core” to signify that it is the core technology behind Bitcoin.

The updated Bitcoin software also has new features for payment options. The Bitcoin core now automatically supplies a refund address so that if something goes wrong, the customer will be refunded. According to a blogpost on BitcoinFoundation by Wladimir van der Laan,

“Payment requests can be also be cryptographically signed to make sure that the payment goes to the intended recipient.”

New Mt Gox Updates: 200,000 Bitcoins “Found”

Early on in the week, the MtGox website allowed users to check their account balance to see how many bitcoins they have. However, this doesn’t really do much other than allow users to view their balance.

Just the other day, Mt Gox made an announcement on its website that it had “found” 200,000 bitcoins in an old formatted wallet. This statement was made over a week after the ex-Bitcoin exchange filed for bankruptcy protection saying that it had lost 750,000 of its customers Bitcoins, and 100,000 of its own. According to the announcement,

“On March 7, 2014, MtGox Co., Ltd. confirmed that an old format wallet which was used prior to June 2011 held a balance of approximately 200,000 BTC”

This means that instead of having lost 850,000 coins, Mt Gox now has lost 650,000 bitcoins. One might wonder just how many more coins are hidden within the MtGox server.

Rumored Bitcoin Ban

The value of Bitcoin has fallen this week to around $580. Some people are linking the decrease in price to a news report about China planning on implementing a bitcoin ban, on April 15th.

This report was from Sina News Service’s website and it claimed that the People’s Bank of China would ban Bitcoin starting on April 15th. Of course such news spread across many media outlets resulting in people debating about China’s stance on Bitcoin.

However, BTC China’s CEO and founder Bobby Lee has stated that Bitcoin is doing great in China and is not banned. Lee gave an interview to Bloomberg TV and explained that the digital currency is not banned in China even though rumors say otherwise.

This week, Bitcoin has gotten exciting new specs and features. It has also gotten new supporters, problems and even a rumored ban. However, it does not retract from the fact that Bitcoin has beneficial features that once perfected will benefit the society as a whole.

For bitcoin news, stay tuned to CoinReport.

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