http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-26/bitcoin-surges-new-usd-record-high
( 976 at 7:55 pm EST... )
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/26/2013 14:31 -0500
( 976 at 7:55 pm EST... )
Bitcoin Surges To New USD Record High (+100% In 7 Days)
A week after spiking above $900, before dropping 50% in the following 48 hours amid last week's Senate hearings, Bitcoin has recovered the losses (i.e. doubled) and is now trading at record high levels against the USD - $930 on Mt.Gox. Notably, in China, Bitcoin remains well off its record highs (5200 vs 6989 highs).
As Mike Krieger asks, is Bitcoin the Black Swan no one saw coming?
Bitcoin to host its own Black Friday
November 26, 2013: 9:02 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
The Bitcoin community is gearing up for a holiday shopping spree by hosting its own Black Friday event.
Hundreds of merchants will be joining "Bitcoin Friday" on Nov. 29, selling everything from Christmas trees to clothes, to web domains.
Bitcoin Friday deals include unlocked phones from GSM Nation and discounted plane tickets from Cheapair.com. OKCupid, which has been accepting bitcoins since April, will be participating as well.
Media outlets are jumping into the Bitcoin deals bandwagon too: GOOD Magazine is giving away $5 discounts for subscriptions and the Free Press is slashing shipping costs. Reddit is also offering a deal on "Reddit Gold."
Gyft is also selling gift cards to Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500), Target (TGT, Fortune 500) and Marriott (MAR, Fortune 500) hotels. And people can also make charity donations with bitcoins.
"Good companies that really get technology and the potential of Bitcoin are joining," said Holmes Wilson of Fight for the Future, an organization backing Bitcoin Friday. Wilson noted that the participating companies so far are offering "high quality special gifts."
Another bitcoin perk: transaction fees are considerably less than with credit cards -- typically a fraction of a penny. That means the deals for Bitcoin Friday, in comparison to Black Friday or Cyber Monday, could be 3% to 5% cheaper than conventional deals, noted Jon Holmquist, co-founder of Bitcoin Friday.
This Friday will mark the second Bitcoin Friday, though last year's event took place a few weeks before Thanksgiving. Bitcoin gained enough notoriety over the past year that Holmquist said the digital shopping event was ready to make the jump to the big stage.
"I think we're big enough to take on Black Friday," he said.
About 150 businesses have agreed to participate in Bitcoin Friday this year, up from 75 businesses that participated in last year's event. Holmquist ultimately expects 500 merchants to participate this year.
He also anticipates a much larger consumer turnout this year. The website's email sign-up form has reached over 2,500 emails so far. Last year, fewer than 500 people purchased goods with bitcoins.
In addition to Fight for the Future, Bitcoin Friday is being backed by the Bitcoin Investment Trust. BIT founder Barry Silbert says his organization is supporting the shopping event "to spread the word and promote Bitcoin adoption."
"We wanted to show Bitcoin is going mainstream," said Fight for the Future's Wilson. "Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year and it's a great way to start." 
Million-dollar robbery rocks Bitcoin exchange
Latest BTC security breach affects major European exchange, which shuts down personal wallet service
Network World - Bitcoin Internet Payment Services, a Denmark-based exchange billing itself as Europe's biggest, was robbed of bitcoins worth more than $1 million in a theft that took place over the course of the past several days.
Bitcoins are a decentralized digital currency generated by computers “mining” for the solutions to complex math problems, and authenticated on a peer-to-peer basis – not by a central banking authority. It’s the third major heist this month – about $1.4 million worth was stolen several weeks ago from an anonymous Australian who ran an online wallet service known as Inputs.io, and a Chinese exchange abruptly vanished two weeks ago, taking more than $4 million with it.
Smaller thefts, which affected consumer exchanges in the Czech Republic and Poland, have also taken place this month.
In the latest incident, BIPS was apparently targeted by a distributed denial-of-service attack earlier this month. A follow-up attack, according to bitcoin news site Coindesk, subsequently knocked out key security systems and allowed the thieves to make off with 1,295 BTC.
In response to the incident, BIPS said in a statement that it was forced to pull the consumer payments functionality of its services off-line, and warned users that they would have to transfer any balances to a different wallet service.
“BIPS will temporarily close down the wallet initiative to focus on real-time merchant processing business which does not include storing of Bitcoins,” the statement said, adding that BIPS will attempt to re-open its consumer wallet service with improved security measures in the future.
BIPS customers aren’t happy with the exchange’s response to the incident. Many have taken to the Bitcointalk forums to accuse BIPS’ leadership of carelessness – and, in several cases, hinted at actual malfeasance. One user, who says he or she lost 90 BTC (about $71,000, at the time of this writing), has created an online form so that others can sign up to be part of possible legal action against BIPS.
Bitcoins, thanks to their general anonymity and lack of centralized regulation, have become popular among illegal users, who can use it as a convenient medium of exchange for illicit goods or services. Huge price spikes have driven the value of a bitcoin to more than $750, making the crypto-currency an attractive target for unscrupulous hackers.
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