Expedia Will Now Accept Bitcoin
Expedia, one of the world’s largest online booking sites, is now accepting Bitcoin. The website logs billions of dollars worth of bookings per year, so the potential is huge. For now, Expedia will only accept Bitcoin bookings for hotels while the company tests the payment system. The company claims that the move towards Bitcoin payments has cost the company next to nothing and took only a few months to execute. Given this positive experience, other companies may soon be tempted to sign up. Bitcoin payment processor Coinbase will be handling the payment process for Expedia.
Wallstreet Embracing Bitcoin? SecondMarket CEO Claims So
SecondMarket CEO Barry Silbert claims that Bitcoin will soon be breaking onto Wallstreet. SecondMarket is one of the world’s largest exchanges for illiquid assets, such as private company stocks. Mr. Silbert himself is a Bitcoin investor and claims that there will be five broad phases for Bitcoin. When Bitcoin was created it was part of the founding phase, but by 2011 had moved into the early adopter phase. Now Bitcoin is moving into the third phase, which is the capital phase. That makes sense given how many VC’s are investing in the currency. The next phase, which Bitcoin is about to enter, is the Wallstreet phase, which will proceed the consumer adoption phase.
CoinVox To Make It Easier To Use Bitcoins In Politics
Bitcoin has become popular among many libertarianish people and has also been offered some support by libertarian leaning politicians. The Federal Election Comission has okayed the donation of Bitcoins to political campaigns, but actually donating Bitcoins is turning out to be a bit more difficult. Most campaigns don’t know how to deal with the coins. CoinVox is hoping to change all of that by allowing people to quickly and easily donate Bitcoins to political campaigns. The service will also help campaigns secure cash.
Yahoo Finance and Google Now Offering Bitcoin Prices
It might seem like a small step, but in fact it’s an important one. Yahoo Finance and Google can both be used now to display Bitcoin prices. Yahoo Finance is among the most popular investment research sites, and Google is used by just about everyone for just about everything. The acknowledgement of these two web companies is yet more acknowledgement of Bitcoin’s legitimacy and points to the currency moving ever closer to the mainstream.
Bitcoin Facilitating Bitcoin P2P Lending
A San Francisco Startup, BTCJam, is looking to use Bitcoin to create a global lending system that will allow people to lend directly to one another. As Bitcoin can be used to circumvent normal financial regulations and currency restrictions, the startups senior team believe the digital currency could offer the perfect platform. Person-to-Person lending is heavily regulated in many countries and unlicensed lending can actually lead to jail time. Bitcoin, however, may offer a way to get around such regulations.
