Posted by frank on Feb 22, 2013 at 9:44 AM

 
Just two weeks after Amazon announced its new virtual currency for Kindle Fire known as Amazon Coins, some pundits are seeing it as an additional threat to real world currencies. With fellow virtual currency BitCoin gaining increased acceptance in the past few years, the success of Amazon Coins could move the public away from real currencies.

New breed of virtual currencies
“A new breed of virtual currencies is starting to emerge – and some of the giants of the web industry such as Amazon.com Inc. are edging into the market,” said Matthew Lynn in a blog post at the Wall Street Journal’s MarketWatch Web site.

“This month, Amazon launched its own coins — a virtual currency that can be used to buy stuff for your Kindle tablet. It is a very tentative move to start with: more like loyalty points on a reward card than actual cash. But every river needs to start with a spring — and with the web’s mightiest retailer behind it the coins could grow into something significant,” he added.

Lynn pointed to the signs of a slow-but-sure shift to virtual currencies. BitCoin is gaining strides in circulation and value. Existing virtual currencies in games like Second Life and Farmville hold the potential to transition into the real world. And there are rumors that Apple will be coming out with an iCoin to go along with a hypothetical banking endeavor.

“There is little doubt there is a demand for virtual currencies,” said Lynn. “They are, of course, completely untested. But with so much of the world’s business now conducted online there is little reason why currencies shouldn’t be minted online as well.”

Central bankers worried
Increased usage of Amazon Coins and BitCoin could be caused by disillusionment with real world currencies, suggests Lynn. The public could flock to virtual currencies thinking that they are safer and more stable than traditional currencies like the US dollar, Japanese Yen and Euro.

“It is not hard to see why central bankers are worried. Right now, virtual currencies are tiny. Hardly anyone is taking them seriously. And yet people are increasingly losing faith with traditional currencies. They are losing value steadily to inflation. And quantitative easing and currency wars mean they are constantly being debased. They are open to alternatives.”

Beyond Kindle Fire use
Meanwhile, industry commenter Shaker Cherukuri predicts that Amazon Coins will expand beyond Kindle Fire use.

“Eventually Amazon will allow consumers to buy this virtual currency and provide some sort of incentive to do so. What comes to my mind is the US Postal Service's forever stamps,” said Cherukuri. “’Buy today at today's price and they are good forever and you are protected against future price increases. Inflation protection!’”

Cherukuri further predicted that Amazon Coins could eventually pay for Amazon Prime memberships, guarding subscribers against devaluations in the US dollar.
 

Posted by frank on Mar 25, 2013 at 6:53 AM

 
After the flash crash on March 12, 2013 making Bitcoin prices drop more than 20%, it is now recovered back to what it used to be. More information can be seen here
 

Posted by frank on Mar 15, 2013 at 6:17 AM

 
The Bitcoin Hedge fund mainly allows investors and high-net worth individuals to include the emerging cryptocurrency into their investment portfolios. The very new hedge fund expands the investing horizon of cash-flush organisations and persons to bitcoins by offering it as a part of a regulated investment vehicle.
 

Posted by frank on Mar 08, 2013 at 9:30 AM

 
Bitcoin startup, CoinLab, is going to be a partner with the biggest Bitcoin changer in the world, Mt. Gox, and Silicon Valley Bank, the international bank. This to enhance bitcoin exchange services and creditabilities to customers in USA and Canada. More information can be seen here
 

Posted by frank on Feb 28, 2013 at 8:43 AM

 
The trading value of Bitcoin has surpassed the $30 mark and could well surpass the $35 record high last year. The appreciation is driven by a string of positive news of Bitcoin’s increased adoption worldwide, including the launch of a Bitcoin bank and a landmark pizza payment scheme in the United States. But observers now caution a possible painful correction ahead. More information can be seen here
 

Posted by frank on Feb 22, 2013 at 9:45 AM

 
After the introduction of amazon coins new virtual currency for Kindle Fire, the digital currency has been moving forward faster than ever. Central bankers started to concern that electric coin might create a big impact to the real currencies in the closest future.
 

Posted by frank on Feb 15, 2013 at 4:16 AM

 
Bitcoin is now moving forward after the two programmers set up a new site to be the middle man to use it in buying pizza. It is an alternative payment method for those who may not have real cash on them. However, it requires an extra step to convert the digital cash to real money which needs more time and cost.
 

Posted by frank on Jan 31, 2013 at 7:26 AM

 
"Bitcoin", the world’s most prolific virtual currency, is gaining traction globally. This has raised the sound of alarm among some central banks who believe the rising adoption of virtual currencies could damage their reputation. Virtual currencies may even also pose direct competition to central banks
 

Posted by frank on Jan 28, 2013 at 2:44 AM

 
Roblox players spent a total of 17.6 billion Robux – the game’s cash shop currency – or an equivalent of $176 million in 2012. This impressive statistic along with double-digit increases in website page views and hours played suggest that Roblox becoming quite a popular online game. Not to mention a multi-million-dollar moneymaker.
 

Posted by frank on Jan 17, 2013 at 7:35 AM

 
Marketing communications staff from W3i, one of the biggest mobile application monetization company, stated that the best and most effective method to monitor the popularity of freemium games is through virtual currency. In addition, the W3i marketer also mentioned about the practice to price in-game currencies.
 

Posted by frank on Jan 14, 2013 at 5:27 AM

 
TechWeb initially reported that based on the 2012 China Game Industry Report 2012, China’s online games market has ballooned to a whopping 56.96 billion yuan ($9.14 billion) in sales. This represented 94.5% of the China’s total games market sales of 60.28 billion yuan ($9.68 billion), up 35.1% from 2011.

The mobile gaming market is also growing stronger, but still currently in a far second with a 5.4% share or 3.24 billion yuan ($520 million) in sales.

The remaining 0.1% share or 75 million ($12 million)yuan comes from sales for single games and gaming hardware, a category which continues to be popular in the West but has obviously not been catching on in China. Gamesindustry.biz comments that this is “in part due to legal complications when releasing consoles in the Chinese market.”

Online Games Market Breakdown
Which online games are racking up the revenues? A breakdown of the online games market shows that online games requiring a downloaded client took in 45.12 billion yuan ($7.25 billion), which includes MMORPG and casual online games.

Meanwhile, Web-based games hauled 8.11 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), which should include most free browser games and no download titles. Social games, which cover the likes of Facebook games, earned the remaining 3.73 billion yuan ($599 million).

So to summarize the distribution of online game sales.
Total online game sales - 56.96 billion yuan ($9.14 billion)
Client online games – 45.12 billion yuan ($7.25 billion)
Web games – 8.11 billion yuan ($1.3 billion)
Social Games – 3.73 billion yuan ($599 million)

More Growth to Come
2012 proved to be an astounding year of growth for the Chinese online games market, solidifying its reputation as one of the most lucrative countries to launch a money-making online, Web or social game.

The China Game Industry Report 2012 further predicts that by 2017, revenues from China games market will surge to 135.22 billion yuan ($21.71 billion) or more than twice its current sales. This represents a forecasted 12.4% year-on-year growth of sales over the five-year period, an impressive growth trajectory that should compel more developers to launch games in China.

Investments Pouring In
In fact, investments are already pouring into the Chinese online games market. The China Perspective reported separately last year that online gaming was responsible for 25 high-value investments, based on a report from institutional investment advisory group Zeo2IPO. 20 of these online games investments have a combined value of $137 million or $6.86 million per investment on average. This makes online games the second most attractive investment destination in China’s Internet market, behind e-Commerce.