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Macedonia introduces new banknote denominations

Banknotes, NewsBy SMI 06/11/2016

The National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia has confirmed that it will soon be introducing new denominations to its banknote series, the 200 and 2,000 denar. The new notes will be circulated from 15 December 2016. At the same time, the central bank will begin to withdraw the…

Royal Canadian Mint sells MintChip™ to nanoPay

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 13/01/2016

Toronto based payments company nanoPay have acquired the digital currency platform MintChip™ from the Royal Canadian Mint. MintChip™ is “a digital replacement for cash” and, the company says, with backing from the Government of Canada, is the first regulator-friendly digital cash platform. “As a digital payment technology with many of the attributes of cash, MintChip™…

Microsoft to accept Bitcoin payments

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 11/12/2014

The increasingly popular virtual currency can now be chosen by users to add funds to their Microsoft accounts to pay for services such as games and videos on XBox games consoles, Windows phone apps and services, or to purchase Microsoft’s software. Rather than making an official announcement, Microsoft added a page to its customer support…

Expedia to accept Bitcoin payments

Cashless Payments, NewsBy SMI 12/06/2014

Expedia, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies, has announced that they will begin accepting Bitcoin payment transactions. It will limit the payments to hotel bookings initially and will only be available to those using the US version of their online store during its trial of the new payment service. Bitcoin payments are already…

Another Bitcoin exchange hack attack

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 10/03/2014

Following the recent closure of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, another bitcoin exchange company has been attacked by hackers. On March 3rd, Canada-based bitcoin exchange Flexcoin closed down after flaws in its software were discovered. A statement from Flexcoin’s website advises that the exchange was attached by hackers and 896 bitcoins were stolen, worth around US…

Bitcoin exchange MT Gox files for bankruptcy

Currency, News, TechnologyBy SMI 01/03/2014

The troubled Bitcoin exchange MT Gox yesterday filed for bankruptcy. A statement issued by Mark Karpeles, Mt Gox’s Representative Director, confirms that the company’s total current liabilities value is almost double that of their assets. “As of now, the liabilities of MtGox Co., Ltd exceed its assets and its financial situation is as follows: Total…

Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox goes offline

Cashless Payments, Currency, NewsBy SMI 25/02/2014

Mt Gox, one of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges, has gone offline. It has reportedly suffered a cyber attack which led to Mt Gox stopping Bitcoin transfers to external addresses on 7 February 2014. A loophole was discovered by thieves enabling them to trick the transaction process into sending double the correct number of Bitcoins. It is…

Iceland’s Auroracoin virtual currency giveaway

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 10/02/2014

In an effort to restore some of the value of the Icelandic krona, entrepreneur Baldur Friggjar Odinsson has created Auroracoin, a virtual currency similar to the Bitcoin system, and intends to distribute digital coins to all 333,000 Icelandic citizens. The Auroracoin website describes the virtual currency as: “a cryptocurrency for Iceland. It is based on litecoin…

Bitcoin virtual currency breaks $1,000 mark

Cashless Payments, News, TechnologyBy SMI 28/11/2013

Bitcoin, the world’s first free market, decentralised global currency, has surpassed US$1,000 (£613) for the first time according to MTGox, one of the virtual currency’s main exchanges. Bitcoin has seen fast growth since its introduction in 2008, allowing users the ability to make payments from person to person anonymously. This has caused some criticism, with…