Ripple's Director of Business Development: Major Players to Adopt the Network in Near Future

Ripple Labs has been on a massive hiring spree, recently boosting their payroll to 30 employees:

We're a team of 30 now! Meet the latest additions to our tech team: http://t.co/9KJgsXcLX7 #ripple
— Chris Larsen (@chrislarsensf) November 6, 2013

Occasionally they'll use their blog to profile a new hire; this time it was Welly Scully, their new "Director of Business Development."

When answering the last question, "what do you think will be the tipping point for merchant adoption," he dropped this bomb:

"Once merchants realize that the network is secure and stable, and that the value proposition is viable, there will be a race to join the network.

The signal will be clear when the first major merchants go live on the network. Based on the response we have received so far from some of the largest actors in the ecosystem, this event will be around the corner."

Just who is Ripple Labs in discussion with? Sounds like we might find out soon... and it could be big.

Who do you think it could be, and when Welly refers to "actors in the ecosystem," is he talking about banks, or is he talking about merchants? Please comment below!

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 »

New Site Launched: Bitcoin Cigarettes

It was just a matter of time, of course, before Bitcoin found this application. The site offers shipping to the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

There is a huge market for this sort of thing, which is especially obvious when we look at what people currently pay for cigarettes around the world (prices are in USD for a pack of 20 Marlboro cigarettes):

Country/State	Price
Australia	$14.90
Norway	$13.80
Ireland	$12.10
Canada	$10.30
New York	$10.00
New Zealand	$9.90
United Kingdom	$9.60
France	$7.90
Iceland	$7.70
Netherlands	$7.40
Sweden	$7.30
Finland	$7.30
Denmark	$6.70
Germany	$6.70
Belgium	$6.50
Italy	$6.40
Austria	$6.00
California	$6.00
Portugal	$5.20
Spain	$5.20
Hong Kong	$5.10
Japan	$3.90
South Korea	$3.00
Bitcoin Cigarettes	$2.59
Mexico	$2.50
Brazil	$2.40
China	$2.10
Russia	$1.60
Saudi Arabia	$1.60

Of course, this site is illegal, though laws may vary from country to country. In Canada, it is illegal to import cigarettes, save for the usual duty free entitlement when returning from abroad.

Edit: I have been corrected in the comments. It is not illegal to import cigarettes into Canada, only to do so without paying the appropriate taxes (i.e. smuggle).

As I said in my recent post about Bitcoin adoption, the illegal and international markets will be two of the five prime drivers of Bitcoin adoption. Bitcoin Cigarettes takes advantage of two of these at the same time.

Read more »