By Jon Matonis Forbes Saturday, May 12, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/05/12/the-somali-american-remittance-dilemma/‎ By threatening to close their Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp accounts this week, a group representing Somali Americans has pushed the ongoing hawala remittance issue to a head. For months now, Somalis in Minnesota have been barred from making the small regular transfers to their family members in Somalia that they have been making for years. According...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Monday, May 7, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/05/07/bitcoin-funded-debit-cards/ Yes, it's entirely possible to fund your existing debit card, or credit card, with your accumulated bitcoin. And I don't mean that you are shipped a generic, low-limit prepaid VISA or Mastercard from some anonymous reseller. I mean that you convert bitcoin online to dollars or euros and the funds are available to spend with a card that you are most likely already holding...

Bu Jon Matonis Forbes Monday, April 30, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/30/robert-wenzel-to-federal-reserve-leave-the-building-to-the-four-legged-rats/ Somebody finally turned on the lights at the Fed. As a regular subscriber to Wenzel's Economic Policy Journal, I enjoyed reading the full text of  Bob's landmark speech to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last Wednesday. Kudos to Bob on garnering the invitation in the first place. Scott Horton joked on his...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Thursday, April 26, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/26/be-your-own-bank-bitcoin-wallet-for-apple/ Have you ever wanted to be your own bank? There's an app for that. With the new Blockchain bitcoin wallet for Apple’s iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, anyone can emulate the functionality of a bank. Simply download the free app from the App Store and you have a fully-functioning send and receive online wallet that allows value transfer without the need for a...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Tuesday, April 24, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/24/coinlab-attracts-500000-in-venture-capital-for-bitcoin-projects/ In the first official venture capital raise for a direct investment in bitcoin, CoinLab secured $500,000 today from seed stage Silicon Valley firm Draper Associates and others, including Seattle angel investor Geoff Entress, former assistant treasurer at Microsoft Jack Jolley, and familiar bitcoin investor Roger Ver. Jolley...

By Wendy McElroy Future of Freedom Foundation Tuesday, April 24, 2012 http://www.fff.org/comment/com1204p.asp Last week, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) extended its reach and tightened its grip on every cent Americans earn or try to preserve anywhere in the world. The final regulations of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) were announced. Enacted in March 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, FATCA seeks to have foreign financial institutions...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Saturday, April 21, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/21/bitcoinica-registers-in-new-zealand-for-bitcoin-margin-trading/ Bitcoinica LP announced today that their new corporate structure is finalized and they have completed registration as a Financial Services Provider in the legal jurisdiction of New Zealand. As the self-proclaimed 'bitcoin trading platform for everyone,' they offer margin trading, short selling, stop-loss orders, and guaranteed...

By Beautyon Irdial Discs Friday, April 20, 2012 https://plus.google.com/u/0/104476128363316281935/posts/RLa4xGNyS1A Should people who want to see the widespread and rapid adoption of Bitcoin seek tight regulation and integration with the State, or should they rely only on their skills as developers, marketers and entrepreneurs to create the rock solid, reliable and trustworthy products that people will use in their millions, like the other well known internet companies that have changed...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Thursday, April 12, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/12/mintchip-misses-the-point-of-digital-currency/ A new digital currency from the Royal Canadian Mint dubbed MintChip boldly claims to represent "the evolution of currency." However, digital currency is not simply about taking official money and making it useful for online and offline environments in a digitized form. The point of digital currency, and especially free-market digital currency, is to...

By Jon Matonis Forbes Tuesday, April 10, 2012 http://www.forbes.com/sites/jonmatonis/2012/04/10/virtual-currency-exchange-first-meta-closes-466000-funding-round/ In a little-discussed announcement, First Meta took in nearly half-a-million dollars for the expansion of its multi-world virtual currency exchange. Singapore-based First Meta is unique in that they have consistently provided a two-way exchange service for virtual currencies that typically only see one-way activity. Why is this...