The publicly traded shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust have officially started trading on the public markets, Bitcoin startup Case has launched its Bitcoin hardware wallet on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY, and more top stories from May 5.

Bitcoin Investment Trust’s GBTC Begins Trading on Public Markets

The publicly traded shares of the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT) have officially started trading under the ticker GBTC. For the first time in its history, Bitcoin can now be bought and sold on the public markets. According to posts on Reddit and Twitter, it seems like some of the trades that so far have gone through indicate that GBTC is trading much higher than on actual Bitcoin exchanges – relatively speaking. Some traders have paid up to the equivalent of US$1750 per bitcoin.

Credit Card Sized Case Bitcoin Wallet Launches at TechCrunch Disrupt NY

Rochester-based Bitcoin startup Case has launched its hardware bitcoin wallet on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY. The standalone device, which is the approximate size of a credit card, is said to provide uncompromising security and ease-of-use for Bitcoin buyers, sellers and users.

Case CEO Melanie Shapiro stated:

“Case represents an evolution for bitcoin users who buy, sell and use bitcoin (…) Since bitcoin is used just like cash, it is imperative to incorporate multi-signature security with greater simplicity and ease-of-use to ensure widespread consumer adoption. We’ve achieved both of these with our bitcoin wallet.”

Gavin Andresen Explains why he thinks Increasing the Block Size Limit is Urgent

Following his earlier proposal to increase the block size limit to 20 MB, Bitcoin Foundation Chief Scientist and Core developer Gavin Andresen published a blog post explaining why he believes such a change is urgent. According to Andresen, not raising the block size limit will soon lead to clocking of the Bitcoin network, which would deter people from using Bitcoin.

Andresen:

“If the number of transactions waiting gets large enough, the end result will be an over-saturated network, busy doing nothing productive. I don’t think that is likely– it is more likely people just stop using Bitcoin because transaction confirmation becomes increasingly unreliable.”

Israel is at the ‘Leading Edge’ for Bitcoin Startups

According to a recent BitPost interview with mathematician Meni Rosenfeld, Israel is a global “forerunner” when it comes to Bitcoin adoption and innovation. With large numbers of users in the country, the number of startups and merchants continues to grow. In a Cointelegraph special, Joseph Young took a closer look at these companies, the people, and the merchants within the growing Middle Eastern Bitcoin hub.

Coinzone Payment Solution to Launch Bitcoin Wallet for European Currencies

Europe-based Bitcoin payment solution provider Coinzone will this summer launch a new Bitcoin wallet that will support European currencies. Coinzone has developed the wallet to address privacy and legal frameworks in operation across Europe, while it will feature multi-layer verifications.

CEO and co-founder Manuel Heilmann said:

“The Coinzone Wallet will be unique for a number of reasons, both at launch and also looking ahead to the future (…) For launch, our goal is to make it very easy to spend bitcoin. It’s a simple yet very crucial feature that is either missing or not easy to use in other wallets.”

Adopting the Chain: How Tesla Could Protect its Website and its Cars

Following a hack of Tesla's website, Mike Ward in an op-ed for Cointelegraph suggests the company should opt for a blockchain based Domain Name System. And not just that. While Tesla's at it, it might as well secure its cars through blockchain technology as well!

Ward:

“The blockchain is, in fact, a terrific place to store records related to the automobiles, precisely because of its tamper-proof nature. If Tesla were to run their own blockchain, with only approved nodes being able to mine blocks (publish transactions) they could house warranty and purchase information, ownership and leasing data, maintenance history, accident details and much more on-chain — all nicely timestamped and replicated across the network in a fashion that would be both tamper-resistant and convenient.”

Leet Launches Gaming Platform with Bitcoin

Skills-based eSports platform Leet has launched a gaming mode where players can battle it out against each other for Bitcoin. In order to take part, players need to first deposit bitcoins in their Leet wallet, after which they can play each other online for the cryptocurrency. Leet currently supports Counter Strike: Go, League of Legends, and it will soon add Minecraft Hunger Games.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Cryptsy Responds to CoinFire’s Allegations

Coinfire published an article last week that accused cryptocurrency exchange Cryptsy of operating illegally in the majority of US states. Cryptsy CEO Paul Vernon has now responded publicly, and accused CoinFire's investigation of being based on false premises. Vernon wrote that their company had never claimed to be fully licensed at state level, but was stringently following the Federal MSB requirements.

Vernon:

“There is no company that is fully licensed at the state level in the US. None. (…) At a federal level, we are compliant.”