Virtual currency technology emerges suddenly, Bitcoin explodes in silence

Since governments introduced policies to restrict the development of virtual currencies and the Bitcoin "bubble" burst last year, Bitcoin has never recovered. However, due to the convenience of Bitcoin transactions and technological development, many financial institutions believe that virtual currencies will become the main tool for financial market transactions and settlements in the future. Even though Bitcoin has been silent for a long time, the virtual currency field has made great progress in 2015. In the foreign exchange industry, there are also many brokers and exchanges that support Bitcoin transactions.

Bitcoin companies frequently receive large amounts of financing

Chain, a startup brand under Blockchain, recently raised $30 million in funding from heavyweight financial players such as Visa, Nasdaq, Citi Ventures, and French communications giant Orange. After this round of financing, Chain's total investment amount reached $43.7 million.

In addition, it is not surprising that Nasdaq joined the list of investors. It has previously stated that it will cooperate with Chain and explore how blockchain technology can successfully transfer stocks in the private market before the initial public offering (IPO). Visa revealed its interest in blockchain technology in August.

Paymium, a bitcoin payment service startup in Paris, France, also raised 1 million euros (about 1.12 million U.S. dollars) recently, which also attracted a lot of attention. This round of financing came from venture capital funds Newfund and Kima Ventures, as well as payment consulting service company Galitt, and also included several angel investors.

The service provided by Paymium is similar to Coinbase, mainly providing transaction services for Bitcoin buyers and sellers, while increasing the market's acceptance of this payment method.

The investments are the latest sign of a U-turn by financial giants on bitcoin, which they see as a potential replacement for the cumbersome, costly and insecure process of verifying and processing transactions for everything from foreign exchange to stocks at banks and third-party companies.

Forex and Bitcoin Services

Retail foreign exchange broker FXPrimus announced in early September that it would provide Bitcoin funding services to its users, with BitPay becoming its Bitcoin payment processing company. For FXPrimus, funding its accounts with Bitcoin not only reduces exchange rate fees, but also attracts more customers.

Coinbase, a global Bitcoin exchange, announced at the end of August that it would expand its business to the Canadian market and support BTC/CAD transactions. In addition, the exchange also provides BTC/USD, BTC/EUR, BTC/GBP and other product transactions.

Anders la Cour, co-founder and CEO of Saxo Payment, a payment solution under Saxo Bank, recently publicly expressed his positive attitude towards Bitcoin, saying that Bitcoin is conducive to the diversification of international payments and affirmed its value as a payment system.

In May this year, the US Bitcoin exchange Kraken announced the launch of margin trading, so that customers can maximize their profits in market transactions. Margin trading is open to third- and fourth-level verified accounts, and Bitcoin-Euro currency pair (XBT/EUR) trading has also been opened. Customers can also use US dollar accounts to conduct margin trading of XBT/EUR.

The IPO Road for Bitcoin Companies

The Bitcoin Group in Melbourne, Australia, was originally scheduled to conduct its initial public offering (IPO) on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on September 2, 2015. However, the Bitcoin Group announced on the same day that the official listing date would be "postponed to the public."

Industry insiders said that the delay in Bitcoin Group's listing was mainly due to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) halting its IPO application several times. ASIC did not specify the specific reason, but it had previously stated that the halt to Bitcoin Group's IPO was aimed at this company and could not be regarded as ASIC's attitude towards all virtual currencies.

However, just a few days later, Bitcoin Group once again announced the exact date of its IPO, which is scheduled for November 11, seemingly breaking all the previous rumors. Bitcoin Group said that the company plans to issue 100 million new shares at A$0.20 per share, totaling A$20 million (about US$14 million).

Concerns and troubles

However, with the rise of Bitcoin, Bitcoin companies are also facing similar security issues as other Internet service companies. Recently, Bitcoin XT and several banks were simultaneously attacked by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) network attack. According to foreign media Neustar, the attacked banks and large companies lost about $100,000 per hour. In addition, the malicious cyber attackers also made brutal demands. The victim companies were extorted for as little as 25 Bitcoins (about $6,150) and as much as 100 Bitcoins (about $25,000), otherwise their websites would crash directly.