It seemed like it was only a matter of time before e-commerce giant eBay and its payment platform PayPal addressed the sale and use of Bitcoin on its sites.And, despite concern from government regulators, it appears the company believes in virtual currencies -- so much so, that it will soon start allowing their sale on its US and UK sites.Last week, PayPal President David Marcus tweeted "To clarify: we have no policies against using PayPal to sell Bitcoin mining rigs.We don't support any currency txn whether fiat or BTC... for a host of regulatory issues.But we treat BTC and any FX txn the same way.We're believers in BTC though."Then, a couple of days later, eBay UK sent an e-mail to one of its merchants that was published on Reddit, which said the company plans to open a "Virtual Currency" category for the sale of Bitcoin and other digital currencies on the UK site.Please know that per our recent policy update, Virtual Currency (i.e.Bitcoin and Litecoin), whether digitally or physically delivered, cannot be listed in Auction-style or Buy-It-Now listing formats.

eBay is opening a Virtual Currency category to allow the sale of virtual currency in Classified Ads format on February 10, 2014.We request that you do not list these items until that date.Please be informed that repeated breach of the policy may further jeopardize your account status.To avoid any inconvenience in future, we'd appreciated it if you go through our help pages or contact us before listing any such items.bitcoin reward dropWhile eBay US and UK will start allowing Bitcoin to be sold in its classified ads format, it won't yet let users sell the currency in the auction or buy-it-now formats.bitcoin yellow jacketAdditionally, all transactions will be required to happen outside of eBay.bitcoin coins generator

A eBay UK spokesman told CNET that virtual currency sales will only be allowed on eBay US and eBay UK for now; it's unclear if the policy will spread to other countries where eBay operates."To promote a trustworthy marketplace and ensure compliance with applicable regulations, eBay is updating its Currency Policy," eBay UK spokesman Steve Heywood told CNET in an e-mail."The updated policy clarifies that listings for Bitcoin and other similar virtual currencies must be listed in the Virtual Currency Category in the Classified Ad format.bitcoin apk hackThis applies to both the US (effective immediately) and the UK (effective 10 February)."bitcoin litecoin capitalizationMarcus told CNET in an interview last month, "I really like Bitcoin.ethereum big announcement

But, he also said he's not yet ready to let people link their Bitcoin wallets with their PayPal accounts."Whenever the regulatory framework is clearer, and the volatility comes down, then we'll consider it," he said.Bitcoin has proven that it can do well as a traded currency.It's been around since 2009, but didn't really get going until 2011 when it was worth $2 per coin.By 2013, the currency had climbed to $20 per coin, and then jumped to $266 last April.bitcoin legal currency australiaWithin the past couple of months, it had another price jump and is now hovering around $1,000.bitcoin mining amd cpuWhile eBay appears to be opening its doors to virtual currency, China's largest e-commerce site Alibaba shut the door on Bitcoin earlier this month.bitcoin legal in romania

The company announced that the sale of Bitcoins on its Web site is now banned.While the majority of site's sales are made via Taobao's Alipay system, a handful of merchants were accepting Bitcoin payments or selling the digital currency.[Via CoinDesk] Updated January 21 at 11:05 a.m.PT to clarify that virtual currency can be sold on both the US and UK eBay sites and to add comment from eBay UK spokesman Steve Heywood.Pilots have a new way to outfox youCan you buy and sell digital currency on eBay?In fact, the popular auction site could eventually become a big player in the trading of dollars and yen and other fiat currencies for bitcoins, the world's most popular digital currency.With PayPal under its wing, eBay is registered with state and federal governments as a bona fide money transmitter, and that gives the site a leg up on many of the early Bitcoin exchanges, which were built by independent computer geeks unfamiliar with the world's rather complicated financial regulations.The trouble is that selling bitcoins on eBay is sometimes a dicey proposition.

EBay doesn’t include tools for verifying digital transactions, so if you send some bitcoins to a buyer via the net and the buyer claims he never received them, eBay will claw back the payment you received.But bitcoins can't be clawed back.That means you lose both the payment and the bitcoins themselves.Just ask James Larsich, who lost about $2000 in bitcoins this way.It's just one of the many examples of how web services and businesses and regulators are struggling to come to terms with the world of Bitcoin, which is only now reaching the mainstream.But in the meantime, a photographer in the U.K.appears to have found a clever hack that will let you trade bitcoins on eBay with more confidence: You can send them through FedEx.Roger Hughes, who deals in Litecoin, a digital currency similar to Bitcoin, recently published a blog post describing this hack.During an online chat, he says, an eBay representative told him that anyone selling bitcoins on eBay would be safeguarded by the company if they move their bitcoins onto a physical computing device, such as a thumb drive, and then send that to the buyer.

If you send through UPS or FedEx, you can get delivery confirmation.Bitcoins are essentially addresses on the internet, but you can't spend them without an associated encryption key, and these keys can be moved onto thumb drives or offline computers or even onto things like pieces of paper or physical coins.Asked to comment on the hack, eBay did not immediately provide an answer to our questions about this particular situation.But Hughes believes his little trick would apply to other physical manifestations of bitcoins, including real coins engraved with encryption keys.Hughes hasn't tried the hack yet, but he says there's good reason to."My query with eBay came about as I was exploring the profitability and options for selling cryptocurrency without using an exchange," he tells us, saying that he thinks that people will pay more for bitcoin on the auction site."The prices on eBay are often higher than the exchanges offer."Hughessays that the eBay representative he spoke went so far as to propose an optimum title for the auction – title that also seems to subvert what is essentially a digital transaction.

"I think the best title will be Litecoin Wallet free with USB stick," the rep apparently said.Of course, this loophole could merely shift the fraud risk from the seller to the buyer.Let's say someone ships a USB stick through eBay’s system, complete with tracking number and delivery confirmation, but then the buyer plugs it in and finds that it's empty.Now you’ve got a buyer with a difficult-to-verify claim.But ugues doesn’t seem too worried about this possibility, mostly because of eBay’s feedback system."The buyer may look at my 500+ feedback rating and purchase with confidence," he says.eBay and Bitcoin have an interesting relationship.eBay can serve as a default bitcoin exchange, in part because it owns PayPal, the digital payment service that meets government money transmitting requirements.But at the same time, if Bitcoin really takes off, it could become a serious threat to PayPal.Bitcoin isn't just a currency.It's a payment service, much like PayPal.As it stands, eBay is still coming to terms with Bitcoin, but it is at least exploring the possibilities.