Bitcoin

by **Cals** Mon 24 Mar 2014, 04:05

Published: Saturday March 22, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday March 22, 2014 MYT 7:14:34 AM
[size=40]Bitcoin[/size]

So, the Bitcoin has found its way to Malaysian shores.
This is despite warning by Bank Negara that it is not a legal tender. The central bank has also advised the public to be cautious of the risks associated with the usage of such a currency that essentially is a form of virtual currency.
But given that Bitcoin trades can run into the billions, it is not going to disappear overnight.
If it wants to give any traditional bank a run for its money, then it has to have better security features and be more accessible to the man-on-the-street.
How that will be done, remains to be seen.
Granted, there’s been more bad than good press on the Bitcoin trade.
US authorities shut down the Silk Road website last year when it was revealed that the currency had been utilised in transactions involving the buying of illegal drugs and other items such as forged documents.
More recently, Tokyo-listed Bitcoin exchange company Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection, claiming that its accounts were hacked and more than 800,000 Bitcoins worth more than RM1bil were missing from its accounts.
Over in Singapore, the central bank has already been reported as saying that it has plans to regulate virtual currency intermediaries such as Bitcoin exchanges and vending machines, amid stoked concerns that this currency type could be used to carry out such illegal transactions.
Essentially, borne out of a desire to create a currency which is independent of any central bank post the financial crisis of 2008, the Bitcoin is “mined” or created through a sophisticated computer software.
The coins are designed to make anonymous purchases and supposedly can be traded for a profit.
The value of bitcoins has soared, growing from US$30 each last year to as high as US$1000 each. Like any currency, the value fluctuates.
Near home, a Singapore-based payment transaction provider Numoni Pte Ltd said it has installed Bitcoin auto vending machines (AVMs) in Bangsar Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur and at Gurney Plaza in Penang.
It has big plans targeting to install 10 Bitcoin AVMs nationwide within a year and 100 AVMs within three years.
It is surprising that the machines are coming here when there is so much deliberation on the viability of the so-called currency.