Weekend Roundup: Trouble at Bitnation and Dropbox, Promising Projects in Pakistan and the Philippines

1. Bitnation’s Core Dev Team Resigns Ahead of Crowdsale

Ian DeMartino reported Monday, and spoke with, the three members of the Bitnation team who resigned from the project over what they perceived to be mismanagement.

“Three main members of the BitNation team have resigned: The aforementioned Nathan Wosnack, Bitnation's former Chief Communications Officer, Matt Mckibbin the former Chief Marketing Officer and David Mondrus, who was serving as an advisor and we are told was under consideration for Chief Technology Officer.

“Among their concerns is that there is no multi-signature account set up, no corporation set up in any country and no recourse, legal or otherwise for investors if the Tempelhof backs out of or otherwise doesn't deliver on her promises. There are also concerns about how any crowdsale equity will work legally, which we covered extensively in the past.”

2. Bankers Regard Bitcoin as Competitive Threat, Would Prefer More Regulation

In a piece that might contain Cointelegraph’s best illustration to date, Alyssa Hertig reported on Monday that JPMorgan Chase executives feel they will need to compete with Bitcoin head-on.

“Bitcoin developers ‘are going to try and eat our lunch,’ JPMorgan Chase Chairman and Chief Exectutive James Dimon said, at the Institute of International Finance annual meeting, as reported by Institutional Investor. ‘And that’s fine. That’s called competition, and we’ll be competing.’”

3. 7 Million Dropbox Login Details Reported Leaked

William Suberg reported Tuesday that the usernames and passwords of millions of Dropbox users were being sold for bitcoins, though Dropbox denied there had been a hack, but that the information had been stolen from third parties.

“The details were posted in a Pastebin document, followed by several more posts which were since revealed to be fakes.

“Meanwhile, Dropbox has taken to its blog to reassure users that the details were not stolen directly but from third parties, and that its API and security had not been compromised at any point.”

Dropbox noted that most of the leaked passwords were old and had since expired or been changed.

4. Two Bitcoin Projects Launch in Pakistan, Philippines

With combined populations of about 280 million people, Pakistan and the Philippines are homes to new Bitcoin companies, Diana Ngo reported. The first is a Pakistani Bitcoin exchanged called Urdubit, and the second is a Filippino enterprise-grade order book Bitcoin exchange called Coinage.

"We plan to create a platform where people feel safe with the world of Bitcoin and hopefully substitute it for trading locally as easily as Pakistani rupees, while giving everyone an opportunity to invest in this commodity,” Urdubit founder Zain Tariq said.

“You have to realize that even wealthy Pakistani people fear what they don’t understand, and English being second language — it creates a small understanding barrier."

5. Bitfilm-Festival Slated to Take Place on 4 Continents

Allen Scott reported on Monday that the Bitfilm-Festival’s schedule had been announced, and screenings will take place in Berlin, Seoul, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town.

"’Film is a great medium to reach new people who want to know more about Bitcoin, but would not go to a conference or meetup, because they think that's too geeky,’ festival organizer Aaron Koenig said. ‘Of course die-hard Bitcoin veterans are welcome, too. They might know all the facts, but they will enjoy the films and the festival atmosphere.’”

Elsewhere

MetaLab founder Andrew Wilkinson posted a lengthy email exchange on /r/bitcoin between himself and Robocoin regarding a two-way BTM that was delivered late and then arrived defective. Jordan Kelley from Robocoin responded. It appears Wilkinson and his partner got their money back. It’s more than a week old now, but GAWMiners CEO Josh Garza posted the transcript of the inspiring speech he gave in Las Vegas in early October. The full text is on hashtalk.org. Nick Szabo wrote an enlightened history of Europe’s Industrial Revolution.

Market activity

Bitcoin’s exchange against the US dollar continues an upward trajectory that’s coming in fits and bursts. We started the week in the low-US$360s, and by midweek the price had broken through that US$400 ceiling, though only briefly.

As the work week draws to a close, the price of 1 BTC hovers in the US$380 range.

Both trade volume and the number of transactions peaked around the same time midweek, hitting weekly highs on Wednesday of 81,400 transactions and a daily volume of US$12.6 million.

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