bitcoin

The 404 1,254: Where can you spare a Bitcoin? (podcast)

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- Check out the new Web site for Jill Schlesinger, CBS News senior business analyst!

- Bitcoin bubble burst? Currency suffers dramatic correction.

- Bitcoin drops another 35 percent as exchange reopens.

- Apple earnings could bring profit setback, despite record sales.… Read more

Bitcoin exchange BitFloor halts operations, shuts down

The recent Bitcoin rollercoaster ride has come to an end for one exchange.

Bitcoin exchange BitFloor announced Wednesday it is closing its trading operations and plans to return its remaining funds to its users.

The New York-based exchange, which specialized in trades of the digital peer-to-peer currency, announced the closure with a note on its home page penned by its founder, Roman Shtylman:

I am sorry to announce that due to circumstances outside of our control BitFloor must cease all trading operations indefinitely. Unfortunately, our US bank account is scheduled to be closed and we can no longer provide the … Read more

DDoS cripples Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox after trading resumes

Update at 6:15 a.m. PT Friday: Bitcoin's tumble continued after trading resumed. As of now, the digital currency is trading at $69.

Less than two hours after the resumption of Bitcoin trades following a lengthy suspension, currency exchange Mt. Gox is offline, the apparent victim of a distributed-denial-of-service attack.

"We are experiencing a stronger than usual DDoS," the Tokyo-based exchange said tonight in a Google+ post. "We are working in it."

Mt. Gox, which handles three-quarters of the trades in the digital currency, announced a suspension of trading this morning after a rollercoaster … Read more

Bitcoin drops another 35 percent as exchange reopens

Bitcoin's wild ride continued this evening, immediately carving 35 percent off the value of the digital currency as Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, resumed trading after an extended suspension of operations.

The value of the peer-to-peer currency began trading at $78 a Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar, falling as low as $65 before recovering to trade as high as $135. The plunge followed yesterday's rollercoaster trading day, which saw Bitcoin's valuation drop 61 percent before recovering a bit with a 37 percent loss.

The decentralized digital currency, which had quadrupled in value in … Read more

Does Mark know? Winklevii claim they own 1 percent of all Bitcoins

As I understand it, Bitcoin is the currency we will all use to buy gruel and grits when the current financial world's gills turn green.

It seems to be based on the idea of one person trusting another, which is an idea that has caused more wars, divorces, tears, and surgeries than any other.

Recently, Bitcoin endured something of a correction in value. This has not stopped those who have ideas ahead of their time, and even above their station, to invest.

The New York Times tells me today that the Winklevoss brothers -- yes, they who claimed Facebook was their idea … Read more

Bitcoin bubble burst? Currency suffers dramatic correction

After a meteoric run-up in the valuation of Bitcoin in the past month, the virtual currency suffered a dramatic correction today, losing more than 60 percent before mounting a bit of a recovery.

The peer-to-peer currency, which has quadrupled in value in the past four weeks, traded as high as $266 per Bitcoin today before plummeting to $105. It recovered to trade at $145 as of this writing, a one-day loss of 37 percent. Despite today's losses, Bitcoin is still up more than 1,000 percent in the past three months.

Today's drop came amid another distributed denial-of-service … Read more

Startup raises $500K to create Bitcoin trading platform

Bitcoin got a boost of confidence of sorts today from a group of investors interested in creating a trading platform for the virtual currency phenom.

The decentralized peer-to-peer currency traded as high as $240 per Bitcoin today before closing at $233, up nearly $45 for the day, according to Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange. Overall, Bitcoin has appreciated more than 1,500 percent since January, a meteoric rise that observers credit largely to financial uncertainty in Europe and nascent investor curiosity.

Coinsetter is hoping to capitalize on that interest with the launch of a Forex trading platform … Read more

Surging Bitcoin plunges $30 after exchange outage, hack

The value of Bitcoin has been skyrocketing of late, gaining more than 50 percent in the last few days, but two unrelated events today knocked the virtual currency back down a bit.

The peer-to-peer currency, which was languishing in the midteens in January, surged past $100 on Monday and was trading as high as $147 today before an hour-long outage at Mt. Gox, the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, pushed its value down to $115. The currency rebounded a bit to close at $123, a 500 percent increase in the past two months.

Mt. Gox initially blamed the outage on … Read more

Bitcoin hits record exchange values with Cyprus banking crisis

Forget gold. The hot investment during this time of economic uncertainty in Europe appears to be Bitcoin.

Earlier this month, the peer-to-peer virtual currency was trading at a record $40 for one Bitcoin, more than doubling its value since January, when it was languishing in the midteens. In the past three weeks, it has doubled again, trading as high as $95 today.

All told, it's an increase of nearly 350 percent in the past two months, and much of it is because of the banking crisis in Cyprus.

Bitcoin "is clearly having a breakthrough moment here, and a … Read more