State of Bitcoin Q1 2014 Report – for Romania the subject is reported “unknown”

CoinDesk now estimates that approximately 60,000 merchants around the globe accept bitcoin. In 2014 there has also been greater bitcoin adoption by major brands, including Zynga, Square and Overstock. Even eBay has added a ‘virtual currency’ category to its US and UK sites.

In the offline world, there are approximately 4,000 premises where bitcoin can be used in person and, of these, food establishments are by far the most common type of business accepting the cryptocurrency.

One of the more significant developments since the last report is the growing sum of venture capital (VC) that has been invested in bitcoin startups. „So far this year, we have seen a total of $64.2m invested, with Xapo, Circle and OKCoin all securing eight-digit investment rounds.”, according to coindesk.com

The 2014 run rate for the publicly disclosed VC investment in bitcoin startups is just over $200m. This would double the investment VCs made in bitcoin startups in 2013, and it isn’t far below the total for first sequence investments in 1998 Internet companies.
„Overall, this ‘wall of money’ flowing towards cryptocurrency startups should certainly have a positive impact on the industry’s prospects”, added coindesk.

As the author’s report mentioned, „Bitcoin may seem small compared to the US Dollar or other major national currencies…

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… but 100 countries have a smaller Money supply (M1) than Bitcoin.”

According to the State of Bitcoin Q1 2014 Report, only 12% of 73 countries which have taken Bitcoin regulatory action are “hostile” or “contencious”. For Romania, the subject is reported as “unknown”.