It has been a big year for cryptocurrency. Bitcoin isworthsix times what it was 12 months ago, and the joke currency Dogecoin has seen ahundredfoldincrease in price. Aboom in “non-fungible tokens”, or NFTs– tradable tokens based on the same technology as cryptocurrency – is transforming the art market. With this growth has come renewed scrutiny, with critics attacking Bitcoin in particular as aspeculative bubblethat usesvast amounts of electricityand produces no real value....

BitTrustis an API in private beta that promises to make life easier for developers wanting to make use ofBitcoinas a fundamental part of their application. The API facilitates transactions, commissions, affiliate sales and user profiles and messaging, as well as an auctioning system. It’s a bit like eBay in an API for Bitcoin developers. Most interesting, however, is BitTrust’s ratings and reviews system. One of the biggest features of Bitcoin is that it provides a certain level of pseudo-anonymity, but it’s also a liability when you’re buying from untrusted, anonymous sellers....

There are sometimes more than two sides to a story. When Twitter co-founder Jack Dorseyreturned to the companya few months ago, the media was all abuzz about how he was abandoning his position at Square, about how you couldn’t work for both companies without abandoning one and many other pieces of conjecture. What we’ve found is that, in the past few months, Square has continued to come out with innovative, exciting products, Twitter has iterated and seen more focus and yet neither comapany appears to have felt ill effect from Dorsey’s split time....

The travel deal space is busy, but companies are differentiating themselves by its online and app experiences.Trazzleractually doesn’t want you to travel far, and would rather you stay within driving distance. The company says its approach: Fosters investment in local economies and encouraging more frequent, shorter trips. Trazzlerwas created out of the original Twitter office by Adam Rugel, a former Odeo employee with Biz Stone. Biz Stone is still involved as a co-founder and board member, and the company has raised $1....

The barrier to entry for a small business to come up with their own mobile app is getting lower every day, but it’s still not quite low enough. So if you can build a company that simply specializes in making mobile apps affordable, while making sure that they’re of great quality, you should be on track for a great business. That’s precisely the direction thatBizness Appshas taken and the company has just released its 1,000th application....