BitFury has announced to bring light bulbs capable of bitcoin mining later this year, Corporate Finance houses are getting into crowdfunding, Argentinean social network platform Taringa has seen creative content generation rise by an average of 40 to 50% after users joined its new bitcoin tipping initiative, and more top stories for June 2.

BitFury to Release Light Bulbs that Mine Bitcoin

Following the revelation last week that BitFury developed a prototype light bulb capable of mining bitcoin, the company has announced that it plans to bring the devices to market later this year. Though much about the market strategy remains unclear, the news follows increasing reports that industry companies are attempting to find use cases for bitcoin in line with the broader trend toward connecting everyday devices to the Internet.

Interestingly, BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov said:

"We believe that the project’s focus should not be on making money from bitcoin mining, but on creating innovative solutions with main purpose to use this product for educational purposes and fun."

Corporate Finance Houses get into Crowdfunding

In a move that’s among the first tie-ups of its kind, corporate finance houses including FinnCap and Grant Thornton will list early-stage equity deals on crowdfunding website InvestingZone. Brokers also include Nexus and CMR. Brokers plan to offer individual investors the same rates as institutions, on some investments usually only available to wealthy investors and venture capitalists.

InvestingZone CEO Jean Miller noted:

“[The brokers] realized that if they don’t have a profile in this growing market they could lose out. This is a good way to get sensible companies in the pipeline and it also increases investment capacity.”

Taringa’s Content Creation Surges Following Bitcoin Integration

Argentinean social network platform Taringa has seen creative content generation rise by an average of 40 to 50% after users joined its new bitcoin tipping initiative. The program, 'Taringa Creadores', combines an ad-revenue sharing model with the social network's unique ranking system in a bid to incentivise the sharing of user generated content.

Taringa co-founder Hernán Botbol said:

"We have always wanted to give our users a economic reward because we think its fair. We want more and more people to post on Taringa and for these people to eventually be able to leave their jobs and dedicate their time exclusively to posting on Taringa."

Former CEO of Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Joins Ripple Labs as Advisor

Ripple Labs, the creators and developers of the Ripple network, have appointed Donald Donahue, former CEO of The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), as an adviser. The new addition to the advisory board comes amid the digital currency startup’s efforts to push adoption of the Ripple payment network onto banks and financial institutions.

In a press release, Donahue said:

“I’m very interested in the capabilities distributed payment technologies seem to offer for improving the safety, soundness and cost effectiveness of global payments and settlement infrastructures,”

“Ripple is already a clear leader in this space; I’m looking forward to working with the Ripple Labs team to deliver on these exciting possibilities.”

Facebook Announces PGP End-to-End Encryption Used by Snowden

Facebook has announced the experimental implementation of PGP, the cryptographic encryption and authentication tool used by Edward Snowden, into its social media empire. The giant announced the new feature on its security blog, which allows users a specific place to publish their PGP keys on their Facebook profile. In addition, users can also request all notifications and sensitive emails to be encrypted using Facebook’s publicly posted PGP key.

ChangeTip Announces Chamber of Digital Commerce Membership

ChangeTip has announced its membership with the Chamber of Digital Commerce, the trade association for the digital asset and digital currency communities. ChangeTip also encouraged its partners, colleagues and other industry leaders to participate in the chamber’s membership.

Nick Sullivan, founder and CEO of ChangeTip, said:

“Digital currencies are ushering in a new era of innovation […] We’re proud to be part of the Chamber of Digital Commerce and we’re certain that through their leadership, policy-makers will come to realize and embrace (this dynamic) opportunity.”

Rand Paul Stops the Renewal of the Patriot Act, for Now

Republican Senator from and presidential hopeful Rand Paul has succeeded in thwarting the renewal of the Patriot Act’s mass surveillance measures. As the deadline for bill’s renewal came and went last night, NSA’s ability to collect phone records en masse has ended, at least for the time being. Agencies of government will be able to continue investigations begun before June 1, but will not be able to start new ones.

CoinOutlet Teams up with BitGive Foundation for Charity Partnership

ATM manufacturer operator CoinOutlet has announced a partnership with Bitcoin nonprofit charitable organization BitGive, in a mission to donate globally to those in need. Through this partnership between CoinOutlet and BitGive, customers can now donate directly to BitGive using a CoinOutlet Bitcoin ATM.

CEO of CoinOutlet Eric Grill said:

“I am proud to be a part of BitGive’s charitable initiative […] I started this company because I saw the potential that Bitcoin could have on the lives of millions of people, and BitGive’s important work is a direct application of that vision.”