Blog Posts - BitcoinNews.ca

Bitcoin Weekly Update - Mar 3

3/3/2014

Bitcoin has finally moved past the insolvency of Mt. Gox and is now rising to the occasion.

Based on our update last week, the pricing was near $500/BTC and now is rising to around $700/BTC.

Bitcoin Network Capacity
The Bitcoin network capacity is 27.31PH/s this week and was 25.29PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 108% over the span of this week.

This is another example of the leveling trend for the network capacity due to the extreme level of overall network. Due to the high level of network calculation, the difficulty increments require huge capital increases in hashing power.

Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The Bitcoin market capitalization remains at $7.2B this week. This has demonstrated the BTC currency resiliency during the shutdown of one of the oldest and largest trading hubs, Mt. Gox.

Looking Forward
Bitcoin has opened into a larger customer base and introduced a new paradigm changing the way of transferring funds between individuals without any bank intermediary.

BTC-E - Weekly Pricing

Virtex Canada - Weekly Pricing

Bitcoin Weekly Update - Feb 21

2/21/2014

Bitcoin has continued to soldier on past some severely difficult days over the past two weeks.

The difficulties of Mt Gox has continued to permeate the Bitcoin landscape and drive instability in the overall market pricing.

If you refer to the pricing charts below, Mt Gox is now closing in on $100/BTC while the other exchanges are hovering $500-700/BTC.

Bitcoin Network Capacity
The Bitcoin network capacity was 23.72PH/s last week and is now 25.29PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 106% over the span of this week. This is showing a slowing trend for the network capacity due to the extreme level of overall calculation. Therefore, it will take substantial efforts to increase network capacity going forward.

Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The Bitcoin market capitalization is $7.0B this week. This denotes a drop of almost 50% market capitalization in the past two weeks.

Looking Forward
Online stores like TigerDirect.com and Overstock.com have shown that adopting Bitcoin has opened their customer base and introduced an untapped revenue source. Therefore, based on their success, it will take additional faith by traditional online and brick and mortar retailers to venture into the digital currency era that has begun with Bitcoin. However, once they do, Bitcoin will become as synonymous as PayPal, Visa and American Express as a method of payment for purchases.

MT Gox - Weekly BTC pricing ($300-->$150)

Virtex - Weekly BTC pricing ($720-->$640)

Cointerra - SEcond Generation Miner

2/17/2014

Cointerra has just upped the Bitcoin ASIC mining arms race with an announcement today of their second generation Bitcoin mining platform. This platform is PCI-E based and will be utilized within Bitcoin enthusiast personal computers.

Cointerra has aggressively priced this miner compared to their previous offering. This mining platform is $1599.00 USD vs their existing mining platform of $5999.00. Of course, the mining output is also diminished accordingly.

Will this new hardware pay for itself for those who purchase it??
Login to your favorite Bitcoin ROI calculator and take a look for yourself....Shipments begin in June 2014.

Difficult Days for Bitcoin

2/13/2014

Update: Feb 14 - It appears that Bitstamp has reopened withdrawals and price of BTC is rising again.

The saying goes "beware the ides of March", however the middle of February is just as dangerous for Bitcoin.

Unfortunately, Bitcoin appears to be going through a difficult patch right now. Here are some of the current issues facing the digital currency market as a whole...not just Bitcoin.

As a result of these concerted efforts, the confidence in Bitcoin is beginning to show weakness. This is reflected in the current pricing over the past week.

However, there are bright spots within this current situation, the currency algorithm itself continues to prevail despite these attacks. Additionally, the community support behind Bitcoin and Alt Coins continues to build.

Mt Gox - Pricing ($500/BTC)

Virtex Canada - pricing ($700/BTC)

Virtex Canada - Feb 14th update

Bitcoin - Weekly Market Update (2 week edition)

2/7/2014

Bitcoin has developed some instability in the pricing over the past two weeks.

Specifically, the instability has accelerated due to Apple blocking the BTC blockchain app on their AppStore and the news today that Mt. Gox (largest BTC exchange) has temporarily suspended their cash withdrawals.

Bitcoin Network Capacity
The Bitcoin network capacity was 17.42PH/s last two weeks and is now 23.72PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 136% over the span of two weeks.

2014 Network Prediction: The overall network will continue to grow but the incremental % increase will have to reduce due to the current level of hashing power on the Bitcoin network. The relative additional impact of hardware will start plateauing soon. Note: Based on Nov-Feb data, difficulty average is 131% --> 119% and declining each 10 day period due to increased hashing power to impact the % difficulty increase..

Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The Bitcoin market capitalization is $13.6B this week.

For perspective, it was listed at $1.652B --> $2.504B --> $4.0B --> $6.4B --> $10.4B --> $14.8B --> $12.9B --> $11.9B --> $8.27B --> $9.8B --> $9.89B --> $11.4B --> $11.7B over these last few weeks and months.

MT GOX - 10 Day price

Virtex - 10 day price

Cointerra - shipping asic hardware

1/28/2014

The Bitcoin ASIC hardware vendor that we brought to your attention on Jan 9th has started shipping its products. See our article here.

This marks another major milestone for the Bitcoin hardware community as this is the third major ASIC vendor (Butterfly Labs, KNC, Cointerra) to produce Bitcoin mining hardware on a massive scale.

Click image below for link to story on Cointerra website.

Bitcoin Market Summary - Jan 25 (2 Week Edition)

1/25/2014

Bitcoin continues to grow in popularity the past two weeks and has stabilized around $900/BTC this week.

Based on our last post, online vendors and popular places are jumping on the digital currency bandwagon: TigerDirect.com, WikiLeaks and Las Vegas itself are the latest inductees.

Bitcoin Network Capacity
The Bitcoin network capacity was 14.38PH/s last week and is now 17.42PH/s. The Bitcoin network is now 121% over the span of two weeks.

2014 Network Prediction: The overall network will continue to grow but the incremental % increase will have to reduce due to the current level of hashing power on the Bitcoin network. The relative additional impact of hardware will start plateauing soon.

Bitcoin Market Capitalization
The Bitcoin market capitalization is $11.7B this week. This marks approximately 1 month where the market capitalization of Bitcoin has remained constant. People wanting stability in digital currency world are getting their wish.

For perspective, it was listed at $1.652B --> $2.504B --> $4.0B --> $6.4B --> $10.4B --> $14.8B --> $12.9B --> $11.9B --> $8.27B --> $9.8B --> $9.89B --> $11.4B over these last few weeks.

Bitcoin Pricing Trends
If we look at the pricing trends this week, Mt Gox showed stability around $900.00, this is consistent with our findings over the past 4 weeks.

On Virtex Canada, it appears the pricing was a little more stable, hovering around $850-$890.

BTC pricing - mt gox (10 day)

BTC pricing - virtex canada (10 day)

btc pricing - btc-e (10 day)

Tigerdirect accepts Bitcoin

1/23/2014

Bitcoin continues it's push into mainstream retail with additional retailers...This time it's being accepted by TigerDirect.com.

The great news for the Bitcoin followers is that as more and more retailers accept the digital currency, it continues to build momentum so more retailers will come on board.

Another positive item related to TigerDirect accepting Bitcoins, is they also recognize the mining hardware sales aspect and are supporting both AMD and Butterfly Labs.

AMD could be considered an obvious choice, but the second option is very interesting....Butterfly Labs is going to sell their hardware through TigerDirect's website....Very interesting.

Bitcoins Not Legal Tender in Canada; A good Thing

1/17/2014

There have been a couple of stories regarding Bitcoins within the local Canadian news the past few days.

The first story relates to an article in the Wall Street Journal regarding Bitcoin currency status in Canada.

Based on this article, the Canadian government has announced that Bitcoin is not considered legal tender. This means that it does not compete with the Canadian dollar in the eyes of the finance department.

Subsequently, Bitcoin avoids regulation or potentially being banned in Canada. This is good news for Bitcoin enthusiasts within Canada.

“Only Canadian bank notes and coins are recognized as legal tender in Canada. Bitcoin digital ‘currency’ is not legal tender in Canada,” an official from Canada’s finance department said in an emailed statement.

The official declined to comment on whether the government plans to license money exchanges that would convert bitcoins for real currency such as the Canadian dollar.

The Canadian government, along with regulators including the central bank and the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, will continue to monitor developments involving virtual currencies, the official added.

Financial-stability considerations are what would prompt the Bank of Canada to take a greater interest in bitcoins and other alternative means of payment, said Alexandre Deslongchamps, spokesman for the Bank of Canada.

“Smaller, stand-alone payment systems for which there are many substitutes – like bitcoin — should generally require much less intensive oversight and regulation because they pose much less risk to the Canadian financial system as a whole,” Mr. Deslongchamps said. “Nevertheless, these payment systems should be designed and operated to meet the needs of Canadians which would include convenience and ease of use, price, reliability, safety, and effective redress mechanisms.”

The second story follows the third installation of a Bitcoin Automated Teller Machine (or BTM) in Ottawa. The first BTM was installed in Vancouver and the second was installed in Toronto.

Click Image for Video

Butterfly Labs - 2nd generation ASIC - Monarch

1/15/2014

While Butterfly Labs has taken endless heat and hostility over their shipping delays both in the past and currently, one has to admire the amount of dedication and expertise to continue producing the high quality Bitcoin mining hardware that they are know for.

In this post we will visit their latest creation, Monarch. This iteration of mining hardware has now passed from conceptual phase to reality with photos of their board and mining silicon wafers now posted.

Therefore, please review the details below and see for yourself.

Performance

600 GH/s nominal performance ( + / - 20% )
350w (0.6w/GH conservative estimate)

Connectivity

USB 2.0 - Monarch cards can be used as an external computer peripheral and chained via USB hub. In this mode the Bitcoin Mining Hardware can be controlled via an Android host or standard Linux or Windows computer.
PCI-Express - Monarch cards consume two PCI slots when installed in a standard ATX motherboard. The PCIe format used is x1 for maximum compatibility.

Dimensions: Weight: 1 lb. 5.5 oz Dimensions: 12.4" x 5.5" x 2.36"

http://www.butterflylabs.com/monarch/

NOTE: All ASIC mining hardware presented on this site is for information purposes only, please do your research prior to making any purchase decisions.

Butterfly labs - monarch