Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis debates Bitcoin with Andreas Antonopoulos as a 2014 radio show resurfaces, Utah considers bitcoin for the payment of state services, Cointelegraph turns one and much more.

New York Council member aims to get the city accepting Bitcoin for fines and fees

Council member Mark Levine has called for the city to accept digital currency payments of fines and fees as way of both saving the Department of Finance payment fees and promoting the “cutting edge” nature of the city. Aiming to introduce the bill on February 12, if accepted, the move would make New York the first major municipality to accept bitcoin.

“Today you can buy almost anything with Bitcoin,” said Levine. “For young, internet-savvy people, it’s become the currency of choice,” he added. “This would convey to the world that New York is on the cutting edge.”

Investors file police complaints against MyCoin after $8 million loss

Following the rumored bankruptcy of the Hong Kong based firm last week, users have begun official police complaints against the investment company MyCoin.

"Because we can see that Mycoin.hk, they separate totally the price of real bitcoin. So after that we know that they are cheating us, something like that," said Gurung, a Nepalese businessman who has lived in Hong Kong for nine years and heard through MyCoin.hk through friends.

Marking the start of what appears likely to be a criminal prosecution proceeding, users are beginning to try and recover their share the losses, which now stand at only US$8 million. “Local media reported Monday that the total losses could have been as high as US$387m, however, these figures were based on the exchange's own estimates of its business volume,” writes CoinDesk.

Antonopoulos debates Bitcoin with Greece's Minister of Finance

A recording of a 2014 edition of the radio program ABC Late Night Live has surfaced with Bitcoin evangelist Andreas Antonopoulos debating the merits and drawbacks of the digital currency with Yanis Varoufakis. At the time Varoufakis was professor of economic theory at the University of Athens, but more recently has risen to prominence as Greece's Minister of Finance.

“[Bitcoin] is a beautiful piece of mathematics, which makes possible the creation of a decentralized network, within which trust can be build simply because everyone is monitoring everyone else. There is no centri. There is no guardian. There is no Hobbesian Leviathan that can become tyrannical, or fall asleep on the job like the Fed did before 2008.”

Utah resolution proposes Bitcoin as legal payment method for state services

Following a similar move in New Hampshire in the last few weeks, a motion has been tabled in Utah calling for a study on how the state could accept Bitcoin as a method of payment. Introduced by Republican Marc Roberts, the bill could mean Salt Lake City based Overstock.com could in theory transform Bitcoin sales on it's website into government payments.

“Consideration of such a resolution at state level means Utah joins several US states taking an active stance towards Bitcoin’s role in the local economy. One of these is New York, which is in the final stages of preparation of its controversial BitLicense scheme. California meanwhile, as the first state of openly legalize use of Bitcoin, has seen infrastructure related to it expand dramatically.”

Cointelegraph celebrates it's 1st birthday

After a year of reporting breaking news and opinions, whilst also delivering market analysis and projections, Cointelegraph is happy to celebrate it's first birthday. Marking the occasion with a grand prize contest, the digital magazine has also published “An Epic Tale of the Story of Cryptocurrency.”

“After the Big Bang, the universe was in chaos where everything down to the smallest particle was under the influence of a mysterious force known as Dark Matter. But with time, the emergence of counterbalancing force known as light brought about life, e-commerce, travel and finance as the Dark Matter’s grip on all activity began to weaken.”

BitMesh could become the Uber of ISPs

Expanding the idea of the sharing economy into the world of internet service providers, BitMesh is aiming to help users share their internet connections with strangers in return for BTC payments. Based on the idea of most people having spare bandwidth, the start-up wants to create “local marketplaces” for users to sell this availability.

“BitMesh sees an opportunity for bitcoin here. The team is building a platform for buying and selling extra Internet bandwidth. Price and time frame will be dynamically negotiated on the platform. The hope is that it will lay out another cheaper option for Internet. BitMesh is supported by Boost VC, the accelerator that helps Bitcoin companies get off the ground.”

BitQuants announce international virtual crypto trading workshop

Aiming the workshop at both experienced traders and amateurs interested in beginning to conduct quantitative trading in the digital currency, BitQuants announces a virtual training event. The sessions will be hosted by Dr. Ernest Chan, author of popular books on quantitative and algorithmic trading.

“The world of algorithmic trading is often seen as having quite high barriers to entry for those without a professional background in the subject. Blending elements of coding, trading, and statistical analysis, it represents a more involving and thorough approach to trading than most day-traders will use. The workshop being run by Bitquants aims to simplify a lot of that complexity.”

Argentinian serial entrepreneur Wences Casares declares Bitcoin will be bigger than the internet

Speaking to Business Insider magazine at the 2015 Davos World Economic Forum, entrepreneur Casares has explained his belief that Bitcoin will radically reshape the international financial landscape. Although admitting this process will take a long time, the businessman compares the digital currency favorably to both cash and credit.

“I think bitcoin may very well be the best form of money we've ever seen in the history of civilization. That's a super-bold statement, I understand. We were all taught that early civilizations first bartered and later invented money because bartering was too hard. Well, that's not true.”

Two-Way Bitcoin ATM now operating in Chicago's Financial District

Announcing the move on Twitter, the Chicago based RedLeaf BTM company has placed the first two way Bitcoin ATM in Chicago's financial district. Situated in O'Neils on 411 S Wells, the machine will allow users to buy and sell the digital currency in person.

5 reasons you would still want to use US$5 bitcoins

In a Cointelegraph op-ed piece, Amanda B Johnson argues that there are enough good reasons to use Bitcoin in her everyday life that even a price crash down to US$5 wouldn’t change much. With recent price fluctuations causing concern among some users, questions around the lowest viable market price continue.

“Modern banks are a monumental pain in the ass, to say the very least. They want “papers, please,” including facial photo, home address, birth date and more. They send you postal mail, emails, and call your cell phone incessantly whenever you spend fiat abroad. They charge you fees, require in-person visits for even basic functions, close at 5 pm, and set a cash withdrawal cap at their ATMs.”

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