UK Bitcoin merchant survey – results
Our survey of Bitcoin merchants in the UK has ended and the results are in. We reached out to over a hundred Bitcoin accepting businesses across the UK and the internet. In total we received 39 responses; although this is less than we expected it still represents an estimated 20% of all UK Bitcoin merchants.
Bank of England writes about digital currencies
In the Bank of England’s quarterly bulletin, monetary analysts have written about digital currencies which they define to include Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ripple. Their assessment is that digital currencies have gained their popularity from being an asset class rather than a means of exchange. They suggest that currencies like Bitcoin should be seen more like gold than like money.
Alleged dump of MtGox backend by hackers
An anonymous group of hackers has leaked a dump which allegedly contains files from the MtGox backend. The hackers also managed to gain access to the CEO of MtGox, Mark Karpeles’s Reddit account and his blog.
UK Bitcoin merchant survey – first insight
Update: We have now released the full results which you can see here. We have some preliminary results from our UK Bitcoin Merchant Survey. Our survey opened on Wednesday and will continue to take responses until Friday (14/3/2014). We thought we’d share some interesting insights from the data we have collected so far:
UK Bitcoin merchant survey
Accept Bitcoins is inviting UK merchants using Bitcoin to answer a short survey (2 minutes) about their opinions and use of Bitcoin.
UK’s first Bitcoin ATM goes live
The UK’s first Bitcoin ATM was launched yesterday (3/3/2014) at The Old Shoreditch Station, a café bar in London. The Lamassu Bitcoin Machine accepts customer’s bank notes and then sends Bitcoin to the customer’s Bitcoin address. The process takes as little as 15 seconds.
HMRC releases official guidance on Bitcoin
HMRC, the UK tax authority, has now released official guidance on its website. The brief entitled “ Tax treatment of activities involving Bitcoin and other similar cryptocurrencies” sets out the tax status of Bitcoin in the UK. In short, Bitcoin is to be treated similar to a foreign currency for tax purposes.
Call centre set up for MtGox inquiries
MtGox has announced on their website that a call centre will be opening on Monday (3/3/2014). The call centre will be open Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm Japanese time (1am to 8am UK time). The number to call is +81 3-4588-3922
First Bitcoin Fight Night coming to London
The first Bitcoin Fight Night will be held on the 5th of April 2014. The event will be an 8 man super middleweight kick boxing tournament held at the O2 arena in London.
Brit ends MtGox protest
Kolin Burges, a Bitcoin trader from London has ended his protest outside the MtGox offices in Tokyo. For almost three weeks he has been camped out outside their office trying to find out what has happened to the bitcoins he had deposited on the MtGox exchange. During his protest he has been joined by Japanese, American and Australian customers also wanting to find out what has happened to their deposits.