Darkleaks' black market for data, Inside Bitcoins coming to Berlin, 600 merchants in Austria started selling Bitcoin over night, BitPay partnering with Adyen, and much more news that happened on February 4.
Darkleaks, a black market for secrets
Darkleaks, a Bitcoin-powered black market that will let users sell leaked data in an anonymous and trustless environment, was recently announced.
According to the announcement:
"The software uses Bitcoin’s blockchain to encrypt files which are released when payment is claimed by the leaker. Files are split into segments and encrypted. These segments are unlocked only when the leaker reveals the key by claiming his bitcoins."
Spotlight on Africa
Today, the future of digital currencies in the African economy will be discussed in an event organized by ON21 in partnership with the Global Entrepreneurship Center, in New York City.
Moderated by MintCombine's CEO Rik Willard, the speakers will include Matthew Mellon from the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Elisabeth Rosiello from BitPesa, Emmanuel Abiodun from PeerNova, Michael Casey from the Wall Street Journal and John Betts, executive at Goldman Sachs.
Cointelegraph readers wishing to attend, are invited to use the following code to receive a 50% discount: onafrica2
600 Austrian merchants selling Bitcoin over night
Coinfinity, the operator of Austria's first Bitcoin ATM, unveiled a new voucher scheme called Bitcoinbon, German for "Bitcoin voucher." According to the company:
"Bitcoinbon is our newest and biggest project so far. It offers an opportunity to obtain bitcoins via a voucher at physical point of sale outlets everywhere in Austria."
As of today, people can purchase vouchers of 25, 50 or 100 EUR worth of BTC from over 600 merchants nationwide.
Inside Bitcoins conference coming to Berlin
Inside Bitcoins, the largest international Bitcoin event series, will be heading to Berlin March 5 and 6, 2015. The conference's agenda include the latest fintech business trends, funding models, investment strategies, next-gen payment solutions, multisig technology, and blockchain startups.
Cointelegraph is an official media sponsor, and readers can redeem a 10% discount off from the Two Day Conference Pass by using the code COINTELEGRAPH.
BitPay closes deal with Adyen
Atlanta-based Bitcoin payment solution provider BitPay, had concluded a partnership with payment processing giant Adyen.
Merchants using Ayden's services, which include Facebook, Spotify, and Airbnb, are now given the ability to accept Bitcoin as a payment method.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, BitPay's CCO Sonny Singh stated:
"We are delighted to be working with Adyen, whose merchants include Groupon, Facebook, Vodafone, AirBnB and KLM. This partnership means that any of these companies can easily start accepting bitcoin payments without the need for further technical integrations."
Crypto-Trade shuts down
Bitcoin exchange Crypto-Trade announced its sudden closure, without any prior notice that they were having problems, reported CCN.
The official announcement reads:
"Due to very low volume and lack of good userbase, Crypto-Trade has decided to shutdown permanently due to inability to cover its expenditures on rented servers, staff salary and site promotion. All the users are requested to withdraw their funds within 48 hours. The site will continue to process pending withdrawals till our private wallet is empty. The site will go offline on 29th January 6:00 UTC."
Australian online travel agency embraces Bitcoin
Webjet, an Australian online travel agency, announced it had partnered with Sydney-based Bitcoin startup BitPOS to enable customers to use the digital currency as a payment method, reported CoinDesk.
Paul Ryan, CEO of Webjet Exclusives, stated:
"It’s an innovative addition to the existing payment options available on site. We are dedicated to providing our customers with a wide range of choice and flexibility in how they can purchase their travel deals."
Isle of Man seeking to become a haven for digital currency projects
The Isle of Man is looking to provide a safe haven for digital currency startups. Its government is said to be "moving aggressively to put key measures to help the region's digital currency industry to thrive," reported CoinDesk.
Brian Donegan, the Isle of Man's head of operations for digital development and e-business, told the media outlet:
"The Proceeds of Crime Act, an existing piece of legislation from 2008, is being amended to embrace bitcoin and digital currencies generally. That proposal is in hand as we speak and due to be laid in front of our parliament for approval later on this year."
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