Blockchain Barrage? – Just to refresh your memory – A “blockchain” is the computerized ledger of sequential bitcoin transactions. It’s the means by which bitcoin spenders bypass a bank or other clearinghouse while always remaining secure and anonymous.
It turns out Wall Street banks are not all that happy about being bypassed. They like the way blockchain technology is shaping up and want in. Recently, Daniel Pinto, head of JPMorgan’s investment bank, commented to the Financial Times: “Blockchain will be big in everything related to settlement, and not just loans. While it is still early days, the technology looks very good http://www.ibtimes.com/jp-morgan-chase-blockchain-trial-bitcoin-server-could-streamline-loans-settlements-2287500.”
In other words, blockchain technology has the potential to shortcut the administrative delays and rubberstamping traditionally associated with settlement. One analyst with Goldman Sachs is even more explicit about its possibilities: “From banking and payments to notaries to voting systems to vehicle registrations to wire fees to gun checks to academic records to trade settlement to cataloging ownership of works of art, a distributed shared ledger has the potential to make interactions quicker, less-expensive and safer….”
When executives at the United States’ largest banks start to feel they’re losing control and have to hop on the bandwagon, you can believe bitcoin is the wave of the future.
Bitcoin Funding —Diehard skeptics and currency traditionalists who feel bitcoin is a fluke should take the advice of informant “Deep Throat” to Washington Post reporters, Woodward and Bernstein (portrayed, respectively, by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman in the film All the President’s Men: “follow the money http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074119/.”
Venture Capital funding for bitcoin surpassed $1 Billion in 2015. As of January 28, 2016, bitcoin funding is already at the $50 million mark http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-venture-capital/.
Three prestigious Wall Street firms, The New York Stock Exchange, AAA and BBVA have announced investments in bitcoin. Former Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, and former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer have thrown their hat in the ring with personal investments in the digital currency http://insidebitcoins.com/news/wall-street-makes-a-bet-on-bitcoin-nyse-part-of-historic-funding-for-coinbase/28995.
Now Accepting Bitcoin–Last year, ebay and PayPal announced plans for merchants to accept bitcoin payments through Braintree, a third-party processor that was acquire by ebay in 2013. The company will now be owned by PayPal Holdings In their recent SEC filing, eBay and PayPal confirmed plans to allow merchants with a standard account to accept bitcoin payments through third-party processor Braintree. This company was acquired by eBay for $800 million in September 2013 and will now be part of PayPal Holdings http://www.newsbtc.com/2015/04/15/ebay-and-paypal-to-accept-bitcoin-payments-through-braintree/.
If you’re a fan of the comedian, Louis CK, you can use bitcoin to pay the $5.00 charge to catch his show Live at Madison Square Garden https://louisck.net/purchase/live-at-the-comedy-store. And if you’re truly a raving fan of the famous redheaded comic, for the same price (in bitcoin) you can tune into an episode of his new series, Horace and Pete, with Steve Buscemi and Edie Falco, in which CK portrays the owner of a seedy, one-hundred-year-old Brooklyn bar http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/31/loucis-ck-accepts-bitcoin-for-new-show-horace-and-pete/.
Clearly, with bigtime banks and backers backing its development and the mainstream entertainment industry honoring the new currency, bitcoin is off and running.
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