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August 21, 2015- In This Issue:

  

Growing Population In China Views Bitcoin As A Safe
Haven, Says BTCChina's  Greg Wolfson 
This week, the Chinese yuan has devalued to a four-year low against the U.S. dollar while BTC/CNY echange rate has risen from 1,633 yuan to 1,690.36 yuan. Is the devaluation of the Chinese yuan triggering a surge of bitcoin growth in China?
 
Not necessarily.
 
"Generally, if bitcoin behaved like other commodities, it would decline in price with the devaluation of the Chinese yuan, since BTC would be more expensive in CNY terms, which would reduce overall market demand," Greg Wolfson of BTCChina told Bitcoin Magazine. "In fact, for the past five years, we've seen a strong bear market in commodities, and part of that trend is driven by structural changes in China. Bitcoin prices have also declined over the same period, although it hasn't been shown that this is correlated with traditional commodity indices."
 
However, there are quite a few people in China who are enthusiastic about bitcoin and think of the digital currency as a stable alternative to the Chinese yuan. Some businesses purchase bitcoin due to its relatively high international exchange rates and to avoid times of economic uncertainty.
 
"The CNY devaluation is significant as a policy signal, but the actual devaluation wasn't very large in relative terms," Wolfson said. "However, there are a growing number of people who feel that bitcoin is a safe haven of sorts, analogous to the role that gold played historically. If this is true, economic turmoil in China could cause speculators and perhaps some businesses to buy more bitcoin in a 'flight to safety.' Bitcoin has some properties that make it attractive during times of economic uncertainty, and uncertainty in Chinese stock markets, foreign exchange rates, and the overall economy could create more demand for bitcoin and buoy prices."

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Bitcoin Will Add Billions To Global E-Commerce 
Bitcoin possesses the potential to transform the way we make payments, lowering transaction costs and vastly expanding the scope of commerce globally by creating access for markets and individuals excluded from the current system.
 
It's easier said than done, of course, but the potentials for this payment transformation are ripe, the incentives are in place. The opportunity to live in a world that enables widespread access to global financial services is simply too great for these changes not to happen, and rapidly.
Here are three reasons why bitcoin is poised to play an essential role in expanding the global marketplace.
 
Bitcoin Can be Trusted. The digital age has connected people from all corners of the world, while also making it easier to shop globally. However, payments systems have not kept pace, and the online use of credit and debit cards continues to present a significant hurdle to the continued growth of global e-commerce. 
 
Transaction fees charged by the banks that issue cards to consumers can exceed 3% on each purchase, creating margin-eroding costs which are naturally passed along by the merchant to the consumer. The card issuing banks defend the collection of these usurious fees (known as 'interchange' in the card networks' parlance) by describing the significant costs that banks incur in extending credit to consumers who sometimes default on repayment, as well as the tremendous cost of providing reward programs that increase spending by consumers. 

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3 Reasons You Should Consider Investing In Bitcoin 
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bitcoin may be a more attractive investment vehicle than you think.
 
Traditionally, most people have approached bitcoin as a digital currency. Although that is one of its principal uses -- and arguably the most mainstream -- it is far from its only application.
 
Despite its speculative nature, bitcoin is emerging as a viable alternative asset class for institutional and retail investors alike. It has an enormous amount of investment potential and is unlike any investment product in the world today.
 
On the fence on bitcoin? Here are three arguments that may push you to the investing side.
 
Investing in bitcoins offers exposure to a global technology used by thousands of companies across dozens of sectors worldwide, and the ecosystem is only growing.

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Bitcoin To Be Made Acceptable Worldwide
Bitcoin community has another reason to rejoice. Bitnet, an enterprise Bitcoin payments processor, and PAY.ON, which is a leading provider of white label global payment gateway solutions, have joined hands to make Bitcoin a globally accepted currency. The news of the announcement to this effect came today.
 
The duo has agreed to globally offer Bitcoin as a viable payment method through PAY.ON's RESTful API-based payment platform.
 
The reach of Bitcoin has already increased manifold as it allows transaction with anyone and from anywhere at a negligible cost and at a minimum risk.
 
Several banks and other financial institutions have also started seeing the digital currencies with hope as the analysts feel that these can help address the loopholes in the traditional financial set-ups.

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Bitcoin's Path To Adoption In India: Serving An Underbanked Population
Awareness for Bitcoin has been steadily increasing in India, as online e-commerce merchants and small businesses have begun to understand the benefits of bitcoin as an international currency and as billion dollar tech giants such as Microsoft, IBM and VISA have begun to sponsor Bitcoin- and blockchain-related conferences, hackathons and meetups throughout the country.
 
India has an Internet user base of about 243.2 million people and the country's e-commerce industry is worth $12.6 billion USD. India has the potential to become one of the largest Bitcoin markets in the world, given the country's extraordinarily large remittance market, which currently is worth more than $50 billion USD.
 
Despite the growing remittance demands, much of India's population is underbanked, suffers from poor payment infrastructures and lacks access to traditional financial services.

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Bitcoins Big Split Is Neither Confusing Nor A Crisis
One of the main obstacles that Bitcoin faces if it is to ever achieve wider use and fulfill its potential, is one of understanding. To outsiders interested in the currency, or in virtual currency of any kind as a concept, the first impression on investigating the subject is usually that it is extremely confusing. The discussion among enthusiasts is often couched in obscure terms, using words that are just plain scary to those new to the subject. The heated discussion around the subject of the recent "fork" in Bitcoin is no exception.
 
At its heart, though, as contentious as it is, the dispute is pretty simple. What is at stake is how quickly and in what way the capacity of the Bitcoin network expands. In principle it seems to me that both sides of the argument agree that expansion is, or at some point will be, necessary. Discussion as to how that could be done has been going on for some time, and it is the lack of consensus from those discussions that has prompted the current "crisis."

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