G7 representatives announced support for “appropriate regulation” of virtual currencies; online survey giant Qualtrics added bitcoin as a rewards option for consumers who respond to surveys issued by its enterprise clients, and more top stories for August 7.

Market Research Analyst Qualtrics Adds Bitcoin Reward Option

Online survey giant Qualtrics has added bitcoin as a rewards option for users who respond to surveys issued by its enterprise clients. Qualtrics head of strategy and research Mike Maughan indicated that he believes that by doing so the company's clients will be better able to reach the increasingly important millennial demographic.

Maughan said:

“Millennials are most familiar with and most likely to be part of the bitcoin movement. A lot of millennials are more on the cutting edge of bitcoin, and those are among the people that are most sought after for their insights right now.”

G7 Pledged Support for 'Appropriate' Bitcoin Regulation

The G7 representatives who met in in June of this year announced support for “appropriate regulation” of virtual currencies. As can be read in the group's summit statement, the G7 aims to oversee digital currency activity in order to prevent terrorism financing, which it deems a major priority.

The group stated:

“We will take further actions to ensure greater transparency of all financial flows, including through an appropriate regulation of virtual currencies and other new payment methods.”

‘Fundamentally Apolitical’ Bitcoin Arrives in amid US Relations Thaw

Bitcoin wallet startup Airbitz made history last week, as it enabled the first ever recorded bitcoin transaction between and the . Cointelegraph spoke with Ni'coel Stark, Managing Principal and Co-Founder at Block26, which recently invested US$450,000 into Airbitz.

Asked about the historic transaction, Stark said:

“The to transfer […] was an extraordinary event. Technology, of all industries, can be the foundation of one of the earliest and most compelling bridges between nations that have been separated politically. And Bitcoin is fundamentally apolitical: it’s a common good for the banked and the unbanked in , in the , and throughout the world.”

MIT and Consensus Aim to Boost Diversity in Blockchain Space

MIT Media Lab's Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) has partnered with CoinDesk's Consensus conference to boost diversity in the cryptocurrency space by offering 50 Consensus Scholarships to young women and people of color. DCI will work with local groups like Girls Who Code, the Microsoft-sponsored TEALS program, CODE2040 and the National Center for Woman and Information Technology to encourage applications for the scholarships.

DCI director Brian Forde said:

“Our hope is to expose more young people, from a diverse set of backgrounds to the powerful potential of digital currency. The Consensus Scholarships will allow young people to ask questions, gain unique insights and meet with leaders in the digital currency movement.”

Why the Rise of Decentralized Media is the End of Censorship

With the rise of blockchain and shared ledger technology, decentralization is increasingly winning terrain over centralized management models. In the world of electronic publishing, however, legacy opinion seems to remain for now that media should be submitted to a central authority, subjected to editorial policies. But in a special for Cointelegraph, Barry Dolphin argues that this will all change. Dolphin outlines several decentralized media models, and sketches a picture of what the future of publishing could look like.

NASDAQ Expert: Bitcoin May be Useful During the Next Recession

In an opinion piece for NASDAQ, forex trader Martin Tillier has argued that bitcoin might be in the process of replacing gold as the go-to safe heaven. Though emphasizing that the data is not conclusive, bitcoin's recent rise in the midst of the Chinese stock market crumbling and the financial woes in Greece, suggests the cryptographic currency could present a genuine alternative once it has matured a bit more.

Tillier:

“It seems to me that while the case for Bitcoin as a safe haven isn’t proven, there is enough evidence to make owning some as insurance against the inevitability of another recession a smart move.”

Ethereum Version Tailored for Banks Being Developed

As the Ethereum community inches closer to the launch of ether trade, global banks and financial corporations are already showing strong interest in the recently released Frontier implementation. According to an Ethereum spokesperson, financial institutions are planning to build unique blockchain applications that could potentially be implemented in the banks’ existing financial infrastructure

The source said:

“You are talking about 100 or 200 people that are building stuff with this, and some of them are from banks.”

Paying Your Rent with Bitcoin in 4 Steps

In a feature for Cointelegraph, Juan S. Galt explains how bitcoiners can take an additional plunge into the bitcoin economy by paying their rent with bitcoin. While his solution is not exactly “convince your landlord to accept bitcoin,” it does involve speaking to your landlord and has been flying under the radar of Bitcoiners, and should work anywhere LocalBitcoins exists and where there's some kind of legacy payment system