The Arizona Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would allow residents to pay their income taxes using Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies “recognized” by the state’s revenue authorities. The law will next be considered by the state’s House of Representatives. Accepting payment of income taxes in cryptocurrency has profound symbolic and practical significance. Historically, the use of government-issued currencies for the payment of income tax has helped guarantee those currency’s widespread adoption as a payments medium.

Iceland is expected to use more energy mining bitcoins and other virtual currencies this year than it uses to power its homes. With massive amounts of electricity needed to run the computers that create the precious bitcoins, large virtual currency mining companies have established a base in Iceland, a chilly North Atlantic island blessed with an abundance of renewable energy from geothermal and hydroelectric power plants.

As many of you know, Bitcoin doesn’t just go for some pocket change. However, according to Cameron Winklevoss, who is a cryptocurrency billionaire, Bitcoin has the potential to grow 40 times its current value. That would be around $340,000. In an interview with CNBC, Winklevoss said the following...

The Winklevoss brothers may be the most relaxed and reassuring faces of bitcoin right now, but their confidence might also be rewarded sooner rather than later. Bitcoin has fallen over a period of turbulent months, from a high of almost $20,000 to its current price of $8,295 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin is struggling to retake the $9,000 level after its spectacular implosion last month - its worst since the very early days of bitcoin when the price of a single token was much, much lower - but the selloff that left millions of marginal investors around the world holding the bag hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of the virtual currencies most dedicated evangelists.

Major banks around the world have started banning purchases of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on credit including banks in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Europe. There have been a number of reasons behind the ban with most banks opting that they are trying to protect their customers from a risky unregulated market. Massive returns on cryptocurrency markets in 2017 saw so much growth that major exchanges had to block users making accounts due to not being able to keep up with demand.

In a segment of her popular television show this week, which averages almost 3 million viewers per episode, DeGeneres spent several minutes speaking about the non-physical nature of Bitcoin and wallets, as well as touching on volatility. “You’re probably thinking, ‘Ellen, if I can’t physically touch it, where can I keep my bitcoin? In a digital purse?’ which is a funny idea but it’s kind of true,” she explained.

Yesterday, we wrote that Coinbase customers were being charged multiple times for past transactions. While some speculated that the erroneous withdraws were down to a Coinbase engineering issue, Coinbase issued a statement saying it wasn’t liable for the duplicate charges. The blame, instead, rested with Visa for the way it handled a migration of merchant categories for cryptocurrencies, Coinbase said.

Guided by an algorithm that is supposed to be able to predict the performance of cryptocurrencies, some New York University students are using their bitcoin profits to pay for tuition. Konig Chen studies hospitality and leisure management at New York University (NYU). The 22-year-old, who was raised in Brazil and went to high school in Taiwan, says he used the profits from his bitcoin investments to pay his tuition for a full four-year study program at NYU.

In recent times, Bitcoin has been doing quite badly. In fact, some industry experts have warned that the price could fall to near zero any time. However, it recently managed to go over the $11,000 mark, quelling fears that it was in free fall. At the start of February, the coin experienced a major sell-off over fears that it was facing tougher regulation. However, those fears appear to have gone away.

And it's not just because the bitcoin code change is focused on scaling the network (it is), or that it paves the way for a new layer for the tech that's potentially faster and cheaper (it does). Finally activated last August after months of controversy, SegWit is now spurring developers to put together a more structured, "themed" release for the software, an unusual development for the team behind the world's oldest and most valuable cryptocurrency network.

Two provinces in the westernmost part of the Russian Federation have expressed willingness to host mega cryptocurrency mining facilities. Kaliningrad and Leningrad, two regions separated by over 900 kilometers are set to get involved in the world of cryptocurrency mining by allowing miners to set up shop within their jurisdictions.

A cryptocurrency exchange in Japan reportedly experienced a temporary glitch last week that suddenly offered investors their pick of coins for the low, low price of zero dollars. Several customers took advantage of the opportunity, but one really ran with it.

A new partnership between Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Coinsquare and payment firm Processing.com will provide Coinsquare customers with new online payments functionalities. These will soon be able to buy cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ether, Dash, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, with their credit or debit cards.

Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), has claimed that “[Bitcoin] has pretty much failed thus far on … the traditional aspects of money. It is not a store of value because it is all over the map. Nobody uses it as a medium of exchange.” These comments were made Monday evening at an event at Regent’s University in London.

With two major Bitcoin exchanges announcing the implementation of SegWit on the same day, its effect has been felt, especially in lowering the fees for Bitcoin transactions. A wave of mass adoption coinciding with the digital currencies rally towards $20,000 last year was mirrored with rising fees and longer waiting times, but the transaction fees have now fallen to a six month low thanks to the implementation of Segregated Witness.

In an annual filing to the Security and Exchange Commission, America's second-largest bank has expressed fears over cryptocurrency's potential to undermine the control of major banks. It has long been speculated that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies pose a threat to major banks and traditional financial institutions. Now, Bank of America admits it could be forced to deal with the “substantial” costs associated with the emerging market.

Known for their massive losses of cryptocurrency, Japan has now nearly scuttled the world of virtual finance by injecting 20 trillion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin into the financial system. Only one month after the mysterious crash of the Japanese exchange, Coincheck, which saw losses estimated around half a billion

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that the country needs blockchain technology and emphasized that it is important that Russia does not fall behind in the development and adoption of the revolutionary technology.

Long ago, Bitcoin made history when it was used to buy a pizza. Now, the cryptocurrency can be used to purchase many different items and services. One of the more intriguing services has just arisen in the Legends Room in Las Vegas, where customers can scan temporary tattoos on strippers in order to tip them in cryptocurrency.