Share this article

Video: Roundup of This Week’s Bitcoin News 23rd May 2014

This week the price of bitcoin passed $500 and bitcoiners around the world celebrated Bitcoin Pizza Day.

Updated Sep 14, 2021, 2:06 p.m. Published May 23, 2014, 5:10 p.m.
News Round up May 23rd

[youtube id="NFQVrVAIo8g" width="620" height="360"]

After almost a month, the price of bitcoin is back up to $500. Are you doing a little happy dance? So are we! (Don't worry: it doesn't appear in the video).

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Check out some of the biggest headlines from last week leading up to the price rise.

37Coins plans SMS-based wallet: Startup 37Coins has created a universal bitcoin wallet that can be used on any cellphone. The service allows users to pay in bitcoin from any mobile device with SMS functionality via a ‘gateway’ in the user’s country of origin. This news is a step in the right direction to deliver worldwide bitcoin access.

FAC sees bitcoin as a 'boon' for global commerce: Minutes from a meeting of a US Federal Advisory Council surfaced this week containing some positive news on bitcoin. The minutes showed that attendees at the meeting discussed bitcoin's potential to boost global commerce.

Bitcoin price surges past $500: After a month-long dry spell, the bitcoin price has bounced back up and passed $500. This lift can be attributed to a long list of factors (and we discussed those last week when we are in Amsterdam) including BitPay's record-breaking Series A funding, Circle's product plans and the Bitcoin2014 conference in Amsterdam.

Bitcoiners celebrate the fourth anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day: Four years ago, a bitcoiner bought two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 BTC, roughly valued at $5.12 million by today's exchange rate. Of course, here at CoinDesk we took full advantage of this occasion and ordered ourselves some lunch from Papa John's.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exciting video content. Have a nice weekend!

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

GP Basic Image

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.

More For You

Traders mull the bottom as bitcoin returns to week's lows below $86,000

bart simpson sculpture (mendhak/Wikimedia Commons, modified by CoinDesk)

One analyst isn't quite ready to call a bottom, but says bitcoin is surely in an oversold condition.

What to know:

  • Bitcoin's early rally Wednesday seems a faint memory as the price has returned to the week's lows.
  • Precious metals continue to get bid, with silver rushing to yet another new record and gold closing in on an all-time high.
  • One analyst cautioned against reading too much into the current bitcoin price action due to year-end positioning and tax considerations.