ZigGap Launches IPO on BitFunder, Sells 10,000,000 Shares in 60 Minutes

With no prior announcement, ZigGap launched their IPO on BitFunder today, catching the Bitcoin investing community by surprise. Traders were quick to react, however, as the initial sale of 10,000,000 shares was rapidly bought up, putting 500 BTC in the hands of ZigGap's owners.

In the last few weeks you may have noticed their advertisement on the right-hand side of this blog, though it wasn't until a few days ago that the site launched in earnest with a new design.

Based out of Florida, ZigGap has their sites set on some of the market share currently being enjoyed by BitInstant and Coinbase, both of which have been doing brisk business over the last few months as copious amounts of new capital has been pouring into the Bitcoin economy. Coinbase, alone, recently reported over $1,000,000 in volume in less than a month.

In a post on the Bitcointalk.org Securities sub-forum, ZigGap reported, in only a couple of weeks of private beta testing, that they have processed $22,824.56 in orders and profited $907.52.

Based on the first 10,000,000 shares (20% of the total outstanding), the company is valued at a modest $75,000.00. ZigGap intends to use the revenue from the IPO to cover the costs of adding additional payment processing options to their service. Additional shares will be offered on BitFunder in the coming days and weeks.

Disclosure: the author is long ZigGap.

Read more »

BitInstant Transfers $1.1 Million in April as the Bitcoin Economy Takes Off

Charlie Shrem, CEO of BitInstant, today reported that his service transferred $1.1 million in USD and Bitcoins in the month of April, representing 120% growth over February and 340% growth over December. BitInstant is a popular service primarily used to rapidly move US dollars into and between the Bitcoin exchanges.

His report comes hot on the heels of widespread indicators of exponential growth throughout the Bitcoin economy. Loan services, stock exchanges, merchants, and Bitcoin gambling sites are all demonstrating significant growth for the first quarter of 2012.


Seemingly sensing the momentum, Bitcoin miners are also stepping up their game, with the network experiencing a rare (record?) spike to 18 Thash/s just yesterday (image courtesy of http://bitcoin.sipa.be/).  Though the spike could be merely a representation of some miners getting lucky, the overall trend is clearly to the upside after last fall's difficulty drop.

Network transaction graphs are also pointing to a rapid increase in the number of Bitcoins moved in a given day (graph not currently available but will be posted when blockchain.info comes back online).

Finally, though I'd love to get philosophical about the reasons for Bitcoin's growth, at the end of the day, it might just be the porn.  =)

We'll have to keep a close eye on whether this is just a blip or a sign of a prosperous future for our fledgling currency - if I had to guess, I would say it's the latter.

Read more »

BitInstant Now Facilitating Withdrawals from Mt.Gox and Tradehill to PayPal

In what can only be described as a major breakthrough for Bitcoin traders and merchants, BitInstant is now facilitating withdrawals to PayPal from the two major exchanges, Mt.Gox and Tradehill.

The one-two punch of the announcement of Roger Ver's investment in BitInstant and this announcement could only mean further great things are to come from BitInstant CEO, Charlie Shrem.

How long before BitInstant allows for transfers from PayPal to Mt.Gox and Tradehill? Is it just a matter of time? One can only imagine the explosion in Bitcoin usage that would occur as a result. Stay tuned; our fingers are crossed.

Read more »

One of Three "Wagner Criteria" Met

If you remember my interview with Bruce Wagner, back in August, you'll recall that he outlined three hurdles that Bitcoin had to overcome before mass adoption could take place. While there has been much controversy surrounding Bruce Wagner, his reasoning was sound:

"I've been saying that the three major hurdles for Bitcoin are security, liquidity, and currency risk, and all three problems will be solved in three months, maximum. Once these hurdles are dealt with, Bitcoin will roll out as fast as Facebook has."

With StrongCoin, Wagner Criterion number one, "security," has now been met, though at a cost of one percent on outgoing transactions.

Bruce incorrectly used the term "liquidity" to mean the ease with which you could purchase Bitcoins (I've made the same mistake, myself). Regardless, it is still quite difficult to acquire Bitcoins. Inroads have been made on facilitating Bitcoin purchases, with services like BitInstant, but it's a symptom of the archaic financial system we live with that it may never become "easy" to purchase Bitcoins, especially in the United States. That being said, with improvements like Mt.Gox's arrangement with Chase Bank, it gets easier every day.

Currency risk to merchants has been mostly solved, with bit-pay, but again, at a price.

Each day we get closer to meeting all three Wagner Criteria. The three-month time frame might have been a little optimistic, but it is definitely safer, easier, and less risky to transact with Bitcoins, today, than it was when I spoke with Bruce.

Read more »