Top Bitcoin News: Dell, Proposed Regulation, And A U.S. Exchange

Last week’s big bitcoin news stories involved Dell, a new trade group, proposed regulations and a U.S. exchange.

Dell Accepts Bitcoin

With $57 billion in annual sales, Dell became the largest e-commerce company to accept bitcoin. Commenting on the news, Wedbush Analyst Gil Luria said, “If you’re a retailer, there’s really no reason not to accept Bitcoin at this point.”

Latvia’s National Airline Accepts Bitcoin

Dell wasn't the only new bitcoin participant this week. airBaltic announced it accepts bitcoin, the first airline to directly accept bitcoin. CheapAir has let customers book flights since November 2013 with bitcoin.

Related Link: eGifter's Roye Discusses Bitcoin, New Business Models And Disruptive Technology

Digital Chamber Urges Action

Stating “digital assets will soon be as important as email, Web browsing and e-commerce,” Perianne Boring announced the formation of the first Bitcoin industry trade group in mid-July. The Chamber of Digital Commerce, headquartered in Washington D.C., exists to educate policymakers and consumers about the benefits of bitcoin.

The newly-formed bitcoin trade group is already hard at work. The Digital Chamber is urging bitcoin industry members to comment on the New York Department of Financial Services proposed BitLicense regulations.

“These rules could potentially crush the Bitcoin industry in New York and stifle jobs, investment and innovation,” states the press release. Some bitcoiners fear these stifling regulations will be copied by other states or countries.

New York-Based Exchange Launches out of Beta

On Thursday, Coinsetter, a New York-based exchange, launched out of beta. To date, U.S. customers haven’t had local options for real trading. Coinbase and Circle allow users to buy and sell bitcoins, but lack trading features like limit orders, stop loss orders, etc. Coinsetter claims to be a “full-featured, institutional-class bitcoin exchange” that executes trades in a fraction of a second.

First Bitcoin Wallet Commercial

Bitcoin wallet Pheeva created an amusing, “troll, please,” commercial. The commercial plays on the fact that many consumers don’t realize how many places accept bitcoin.

In addition to retailers like Dell, Overstock, REEDS Jewelers and others accepting bitcoin directly, there are many payment processors like eGifter, Stripe and Expedia enabling customers to spend bitcoin with tens of thousands of merchants who don’t accept bitcoin directly.

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, David Smith has a long bitcoin position and owns So What’s Bitcoin?