According to the Payments Council, cash transactions in the UK fell to 48% of overall payments last year, down from 52% in 2013. This comes as no surprise, given the international rise of popular social payment services such as Snapcash, Squarecash and Venmo, as well as the already mainstream use of Paypal to shop online. These services, along with debit cards and digital currency trade, have collectively overtaken payments in physical bills and coins as of last year. Crunching the Numbers It is expected that in about a decade cashless payments will account for £28.8 billion, as opposed to £12.7 …

XBT Provider has issued the world’s first bitcoin tracker to be used on a regulated exchange; Mexican Bitcoin Exchange Volabit launches ‘Whatsapp Personal Assistant’ and more top stories for May 18. World’s first ‘bitcoin tracker’ goes live on a regulated exchange XBT Provider has become the first issuer of the world’s first Bitcoin tracker to be traded on a regulated exchange. The company, which is a public limited liability company incorporated under Swedish law, says this will make it easy for entities and individuals to trade in bitcoin. XBT Provider: “We are proud to offer the world’s first “Bitcoin tracker” …

BitSIM is a small, dual-chip overlay that is physically placed atop a phone's regular SIM card. Once there, the BitSIM turns that phone – even if it's a “dumb” phone – into a Bitcoin wallet. It does so by submitting transactions to the Bitcoin network as encrypted text messages. The phone owner's private key – stored in the BitSIM overlay – is unlocked with a PIN. Founder Leon-Gerard Vandenberg says that BitSIM “interposes SIM commands between the original SIM and the phone. So the phone thinks there's a SIM there, and the original SIM thinks there's a phone there – …

The social messaging app Wiper added a built-in bitcoin wallet last month, enabling instant transactions among contacts, as well as basic wallet functionality. Bitcoin integrated Wiper is most often compared to SnapChat, but unlike that popular app, it isn't entirely focused on vanishing messages. Wiper, unlike SnapChat, doesn't delete messages by default. Instead, users can decide when to delete messages from both their phones and the recipient's phone. Adding a bitcoin wallet in the app couldn't be simpler. Hit a few buttons, set a four digit pass code, write down the backup phrase and you are good to go. It …

A proposed UK bill could end anonymity in Bitcoin transactions by logging of all content accessed via UK ISPs. This will leave only services such as DarkWallet as truly anonymous options, placing them firmly in the sights of UK lawmakers seeking “the legal power to break into the encrypted communications of suspected terrorists.” Speaking in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks at the Charlie Hebdo offices and a kosher supermarket, UK Prime Minister David Cameron has called for further powers to assist the police and intelligence services to track and monitor online and mobile communications in the UK. This …

Bitcoin hardware wallets are an area of digital currency security still very much in its experimental phase. Developers are striving to offer the most advanced security features in the most accessible way possible, but the complexity of the undertaking often results in misunderstandings on the part of the consumer. With this in mind, Cointelegraph sought to provide a summary of the credentials of the main hardware wallet products on the market today. Included are the major offerings which are either already available or in the final stages of development with release imminent. The products under review are: Bitcoincard (Mycelium) Bitsafe …

Whether it’s from hackers, thieves, or simple carelessness, one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin safety is wallet security. An Austrian research and development startup, however, is trying to bypass some of the greatest digital currency dangers by moving Bitcoin wallets off electronic gadgets completely and onto the old-school stuff: paper. A bit of technology (in the form of a USB device and a printer) is still obviously required, though the development team at Megion Research and Development say the process is simple. “Paper wallets are created in 3 simple steps,” When the USB is plugged in, it creates a …