Reddit stops accepting Bitcoin payments

Social media giant Reddit has confirmed that it will no longer accept Bitcoin as payment for its Gold membership.

The decision was forced by issues affecting Bitcoin payments on Reddit; in a thread in the r/btc Bitcoin subreddit , one of the company’s administrators, emoney04, explained :

That leaves users with only credit cards and PayPal as modes of payment for Reddit’s Gold plan; emoney04 said that the company will watch for demand for Bitcoin payments before it decides whether it should re-enable the option.

While this may not deal a major blow to the legitimacy (and price) of Bitcoin, it may signal slow adoption of the currency among big-name brands online. Cryptocurrencies faced a setback in the past few weeks as Facebook , Google , and most recently, Twitter, banned ads for virtual currency and ICO-related offerings on their platforms.

Via Bloomberg

Errata: This post previously implied that Reddit’s decision to stop accepting Bitcoin payments was due to bugs affecting Coinbase Commerce, when it was in fact due to bugs affecting the current payments system. We regret the error in reporting the actual cause of this incident.

The Next Web’s 2018 conference is just a few months away, and it’ll be

Man swipes domains from BT in 2000; flogs them for a fortune in Bitcoin in 2017

Seventeen years ago, the UK’s then-biggest telecommunications company, BT, opened a pioneering new research incubator in Ipswitch, called Adastral Park.

And… er… forgot to purchase the domain names. It’s a schoolboy error, and as a prank, a BT contractor called Ric Hayman bought them for the grand total of £20 (at the time, that was roughly $28). Predictably, the humorless suits at BT didn’t particularly appreciate his joke, and Hayman quickly found himself out on his arse, without a job.

Hayman’s having the last laugh though, as the bundle of domains are now on sale for a cool ten Bitcoins . At the time of writing, a Bitcoin is worth £7,525 (an astonishing $ 10,171.02), meaning that if BT wants their domains back, they’ll have to pony up £75,250 (or $101,710.25).

The Whois for the domains are still linked to Hayman, suggesting he’s kept hold of them all these years.  However, it’s not clear he’ll find a buyer.

BT purchased an alternative domain — atadastralo.uk — in 2000, which has been the online home of Adastral Park ever since. Moreover, BT is financially struggling. As pointed out by The Register’s Rebbecca Hill, it just reported a significant drop in revenue .

We’ve emailed Adastral Park and the email attached to the Adastral Park domain sale. If we hear back, we’ll update this post.

Welcome to the weirdly wonderful world of crypto-art

Art and cryptocurrency really share a certain bond: their value is just agreed upon – albeit subjectively. Long ago, society decided gold was worth something, mostly because it is pretty and kind of hard to get.

It’s only taken about a decade for us to agree that Bitcoin is, at least, worth something. We’ve had even less time to decide what constitutes blockchain art.

By the time you’ve finished reading this, though, you’ll at least have an understanding of where we’re at.

Bling to match your lambo

Jewellery making is surely an ancient art form, and one that, for better or worse, was the very first to establish itself in the Bitcoin community.

Those looking to make some powerful statements are definitely accommodated for in 2018. The BTC Jewellery , from Japan, is offering up a massive selection of cryptocurrency jewellery – some bold, some more subdued.

What better way to show your dedication to blockchain-ifying society than by rocking custom-made rings, pendants, earrings or cufflinks that pay homage to the internet of money. The pendants even come in a range of sizes to match your stack.

One ring, that reads DECENTRALIZED , is strictly for the ballers. Another ring simply says: SATOSHI .

Cryptocurrency graffiti

It’s not only jewellery makers using Bitcoin as a muse. Thankfully, the rebellious nature of cryptocurrency pairs well with street art, too. Graffiti murals are popping up around the globe, giving a certain texture to the digital money revolution.

Hard Fork recently spoke with French artist Pascal ‘PBOY’ Boyart , who has been adding QR codes to his street murals that allow admirers to show appreciation directly by sending Bitcoin. By the time we spoke to PBOY, over $1,000 in donations had been received. This highlights just how effective blockchains can be at guerilla fundraising.

Miniatures are art, too!

Miniatures are also getting their time in the spotlight. We’ve all seen those dorky physical coins of the major cryptocurrencies – but they don’t really have the allure of a bobblehead of Vitalik Buterin riding a blue unicorn-thing.

Cryptocurrency novelty store moonstüff is behind the collectables, with infamous BitConnect hype-man Carlos Matos and Bitcoin Cash evangelist Roger Ver making up the rest of the set.

Pushing the boundaries

Ready for something a bit more adventurous? Kevin Abosch is one conceptual artist pushing the boundaries of crypto-art. His work, if I must describe it, is equally confusing and intimidating.

Famous for selling a photograph of a potato for a million Euros (approx. $1.15 million), Abosch is now becoming one with the blockchain. IAMACoin is his latest project – a set of ten million tokens, each one of them acting as their own, standalone work of art.

To which I say, sure, why not, a token derived from a blockchain is a piece of art. If you get enough people interested in your work, each token becomes valuable and could even be traded for art more tangible.

But here’s the hook: the artist stamps a contract address with his own blood on a fancy piece of paper – 100 of these have been created.

The completely real and unedited artist statement reads:

Another Abosch piece perfectly combines everything you don’t understand about computers with all that goes over your head when appreciating art.

( Edit: This piece has been updated to correctly describe Abosch’s IAMACoin project, which was not launched via ICO)

Something more familiar

Not everything is so pretentious, I promise. Hungarian illustrator Zsolt Vidak has produced a colorful piece that I’d totally dig for the new shag-pad .

If oil paintings are more your style, the “ Ascension of Satoshi”, by Daniel Loveday might be better suited. It recently sold for over $2,500, but who knows – it might be back on the market one day. (Note: images courtesy of Bitcoin Art Gallery )

Also, if you squint and turn your head a bit, it totally looks like Elon Musk, right?

Art comes in all forms, just like cryptocurrencies. Some are surely worthless – others, might be valuable one day. In the end, all that really matters is that enough people think it’s worth something, right?

Right?