Cyprus Goes Cashless The Hard Way

"The era of free capital movement is behind us. Capital controls are about government keeping your money within easy reach should they ever want it. A decentralized and nonpolitical currency like Bitcoin starts to look attractive by providing a safer destination for wary depositors, allowing them to store their money securely in a digital account on their own computers, away from the big governments and politicians’ reach. It is possible to purchase bitcoins in Cyprus at LocalBitcoins.com.

“Money flows to where confidence exists” says Alan Safahi, CEO of ZipZap, Inc., a global cash network with over 700,000 locations in the world. “As bitcoin gains more acceptance, consumer confidence increases and more money will flow to bitcoins, causing a continuous rise in price due to limited supply which then increases consumer confidence even more,” adds Safahi.

As this trend continues, ZipZap, which processes more purchases of bitcoin than any other cash network stands to benefit tremendously from this trend. “The growth opportunity is not limited to Europe. We are seeing a significant increase in volume in the past few days from consumers in the U.S.,” says Safahi.

The emerging trend towards bitcoin as a flight to safety seems to be accelerating despite the recent regulatory guidance from FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network). As part of the Treasury Department, FinCEN’s guidance on enforcement would extend traditional money laundering rules to most types of virtual currencies, including bitcoin. Although bitcoin proponents emphasize that a test case has not emerged yet."

- Source, Forbes via Jon Matonis, read the full article here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2013/03/24/cyprus-goes-cashless-the-hard-way/

Max Keiser - "Bitcoin to Kill The Fed"

"Alex Jones talks with former stock trader and television host Max Keiser about the roller coaster stock market casino and the slowly disintegrating global economy as the global elite continue their move to consolidate wealth and power."

- Source, Infowars:

http://www.infowars.com

Bitcoin is the Fastest Growing Currency in the World

(Video not embeddable, please click image to watch)

"Bitcoin is an unregulated, uncontrolled online currency – worth more than £500m, it's the world's fastest growing. It can be used to buy drugs, move money across the world, or get rich quick. The people behind Bitcoin speak to the Guardian's James Ball at their home in a squat in central London."

- Source, The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/video/2013/mar/22/bitcoin-currency-video

The Eye of Sauron Has Spotted Bitcoin

"Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “ Web Money Gets Laundering Rule” an article framed in typical central bank newspeak warning of money laundering and growing “concerns” that new forms of cash bought on the Internet might be used to fund illicit activities.

This concern for possible laundering and illicit activities is banker newspeak indicating banksters are really concerned about the possibility people might be able to escape the global web of banking activity spying and find a way out of debt slavery caused by central bank controlled currencies.

Furthermore the bankers worry bitcoin, the virtual currency in question, might actually provide a way to independently and objectively value banker currencies in terms of purchasing power - not just relative values between managed banker currencies, which have no tight correlation with purchasing power. And, a derivative of providing an objective measure of cartel controlled currency purchasing power, is wealth can be transferred into bitcoin, where its purchasing power can remain reasonably stable, in fact, if bitcoin survives - the purchasing power of bitcoins will rise over time..."

- Source, Jack Mullen via Gold Seek, read the full article here:

http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1364140800.php

Alberta Man to Sell Home for Bitcoin

"It's not often that Canadian real estate listings make international headlines, but a mid-sized Alberta bungalow has people around the world buzzing today after its owner declared that he would like to sell it -- for Bitcoins.

If successful, 22-year-old entrepreneur Taylor More would be the first person ever to accept the fast-rising virtual currency in exchange for property.

"My home is being traded for Bitcoins!" reads the listing for More's "quaint" two bedroom home in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta. "Properties like this rarely come on the market and this one's priced to sell in one of the most sought after recreation areas of the Rockies."

The property is listed for $405,000 CDN, but More writes that "the price can be reduced" if a buyer has some Bitcoins to spare."

- Source CBC, read the full article here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/yourcommunity/2013/03/alberta-man-accepting-bitcoins-in-exchange-for-home.html

Leading Bitcoin Exchange Overwhelmed by Unprecedented Influx of New Accounts

MtGox, the leading Bitcoin exchange, has been overwhelmed by a large volume of new account requests recently which must go through a process of identity verification (in order for the account to trade higher volumes), leading to unprecedented delays. According to an MtGox spokesperson, there were “around 1000 new requests on Friday” [March 22, 2013] alone. A senior member of bitcointalk.org, who has apparently applied to have his MtGox account verified, stated “There are 4000+ accounts in front of me waiting to be verified…”.

After an account is finally verified it then can take a day, or several days depending on how funds are transferred, to have funds arrive in your exchange account as bank wires, direct deposits or online banking bill payments are the usual ways of doing so (credit cards are not generally accepted or costly fees apply if so). With thousands of new accounts in the queue, at just one exchange that we know of, this suggests that a significant amount of fiat currency will flow into Bitcoin in the coming weeks. With a market capitalization of only around$700M USD it does not take much to move Bitcoin prices significantly.

At the time of this writing Bitcoin are trading at around $68 USD up from $28 thirty days ago.

- Source, Max Keiser.com:

http://maxkeiser.com/2013/03/24/leading-bitcoin-exchange-overwhelmed-by-unprecedented-influx-of-new-accounts/