Just as BitPay raises $2 million from the Founders Fund, Federal officials have seized Bitcoin funds belonging to Dwolla, the website that serves as an exchange for the virtual currency. 

It’s the first intervention by the government against the online money system garnering increased attention as Immigration and Customs Enforcement froze the accounts of Mt. Gox, the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange that receives funds from Dwolla. One Bitcoin is currently worth about $110, up from $13.50 at the start of the year. Federal law requires money transmission services to register with the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Mt.Gox had not complied, leaving president and CEO Mark Karpeles facing up to five years in prison.

Washington has been eyeing the Japanese start-up since it hit the mainstream radar in 2011 when a report by Gizmodo explained in detail how the mostly-anonymous currency could be used to be illegal drugs over the internet. The report prompted Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., to call for its shut-down as an "online form of money laundering."Continue reading...

As the May 15 deadline has come and gone to sign the IndustriALL-backed Bangladesh safety agreement, the abscence of a number of US brands has become even more apparent as more than 30 international retailers have agreed to the terms defined by international labor organizations to ensure the repair and future maintenance of Bangladesh's growing garment industry. Last month, Rana Plaza, an eight-story factory employing mostly young women collapsed, killing 1,127 people.  

While American clothing brands and retailers have been actively involved in the ensuing dialogue, the only two to sign the agreement by the deadline were PVH (which owns the Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Van Heusen brands) and Abercrombie & Fitch, while Walmart and Gap publicly declared their opposition to the plan. 

To date, the list of signatories includes: Abercrombie & Fitch, Aldi, Benetton, C&A, Carrefour, El Corte Ingles, Esprit, G-Star, H&M, Helly Hansen, Hess Natur, Inditex (Zara's owner), jbc, KiK New Look, Lidl, Loblaws on behalf of its Joe Fresh and Primark brands, Mango, Marks & Spencer, Mothercare, N Brown Group, Next, PVH, Rewe, Sainsbury's, Stockmann, Switcher, Tchibo, Tesco and WE Europe.Continue reading...

Another English soccer legend is retiring. David Beckham announced his retirement from pro soccer not long after his former coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, made the same announcement.

After two more games, Beckham will be hanging up his cleats, but the star athlete was sure to rack up a few more titles before he cleans out his locker. Thanks to Paris Saint-Germain' s recent win to claim the Ligue 1 title, Beckham is now the only person to have won four national club championships in four different leagues in four different countries. He's also the first English player to score at three consecutive World Cup finals, and he's been honored by the Queen of England. Not a bad rap for a guy that kicks a ball around for a living, but there's a lot more to Beckham's success than what simply lies on the field. 

"If you had told me as a young boy I would have played for and won trophies with my boyhood club Manchester United, proudly captained and played for my country over 100 times and lined up for some of the biggest clubs in the world, I would have told you it was a fantasy," he said, the BBC reports. "I'm fortunate to have realized those dreams."Continue reading...

Fiat is reportedly considering shifting its global headquarters to the Detroit area. That would be a huge material and attitudinal boost for the region in the wake of a new report about the City of Detroit's finances that is even bleaker than before.

When Chrysler was acquired by Mercedes-Benz 15 years ago, effectively moving the headquarters of one of the old American Big Three to Germany, it was yet another body blow to a troubled metro-Detroit area that had already been in decline for decades. When Fiat and the US taxpayer rescued Chrysler (under post-Mercedes owners) from bankruptcy in 2009, at least there was hope of keeping the company, even though its new parent was Italian.

Now, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has signaled strong consideration for moving the worldwide center of the entire Fiat-Chrysler enterprise to Michigan, perhaps to help fill out Chrysler's relatively new headquarters complex in Auburn Hills, Mich., in north-suburban Detroit. Bloomberg reported that Marchionne is evaluating a switch from Turin, Italy, where Fiat was founded in 1899.Continue reading...

Having conquered the internet, video and now launched into music, Google is moving into shopping through YouTube's new "channel gadget."

"To shorten the path to purchase and translate video views to sales, today we’re introducing a new channel gadget on YouTube that will enable consumer goods brands to connect consumers directly with retailers throughout the entire YouTube experience," Google wrote in a blog post. "This new channel gadget will enable shoppers to seamlessly move from browsing how-to videos and featured products to finding which retailers carry them, check availability, compare prices and make a purchase, all with fewer clicks than today." 

Google's first client is Unilever’s Tresemmé, which already has a robust YouTube channel in place featuring celebrities and style setters. Now users can click on the products in demo videos for purchase information, a perk that will only appear on brand channel pages.Continue reading...

Many a dairy brand have been trying to figure out how to pivot their offerings toward the perceived protein needs of men. That's how the whole phenomenon of chocolate milk as a workout "recovery" drink got started, and that's the positioning that has made hits out of tailored dairy-based products such as Muscle Milk.

Now a major brand known for a whole other kind of dairy wants to muscle in on the action. Dannon USA as been advertising in Men's Health magazine depicting its Oikos yogurt as a dose of protein that even men can appreciate. "The New Protein" ad depicts Oikos inside a hamburger bun, for example, on a grill with chicken breasts and in an egg container to underscore the fact that, as a Greek-style yogurt product, Oikos carries even more of a protein punch than regular yogurt.

Men's purchases likely would only ever become a sliver of overall demand for Oikos, which ranked as not only the most successful US new-product launch of 2012 among CPG brands, as evaluated by SymphonyIRI, but the most successful such launch since 2009.Continue reading...

Hellmann’s mayonnaise turns 100 this year and its owner, Unilever, is celebrating with the brand’s biggest marketing campaign ever.

"It's part of the culinary heritage of America," said Brian Orlando, Hellmann's senior marketing director, the Associated Press reports. "After 100 years, we decided it was worth going out and revisiting this brand and what it is today."

Unilever is shelling out for TV, print and digital ads for its “Bringing the Best Together” campaign as well as a Facebook page and YouTube videos “featuring chef Mario Batali cooking up Hellmann's recipes, a Smartphone app and a September event that will include the world's largest picnic table,” according to AP. 
Batali has been asked to create 30 recipes that incorporate Hellmann's to be shared via Facebook and the app. The TV ads, however, will focus on founder Richard Hellmann’s New York deli where the brand was first sold.Continue reading...

Coca-Cola is killing Vietnam's children. That's the takeaway message of a video that is part of a boycott movement against the world's most famous, most successful soda maker. But is Vietnam's anti-Coca-Cola consumer movement all state-sponsored fizz and no substance?

Even after the war was over and the troops had left, news stories used the presence of Coca-Cola as an example of persisting American influence in Communist Vietnam. "Girlie Magazines and Coca-Cola Still In Vietnam" read the headline from a May 1975 Associated Press story. Sadly, two decades did not make the press much more sensitive. "Coca-Cola Invades Vietnam" read the Nov. 18, 1994 Albany Herald headline announcing Coke's official return to selling in the nation.

During the post-war US embargo, Coca-Cola was still widely available in Vietnam, brought in from neighboring nations. Thanks to this make-do distribution system, Coke claimed a majority of Vietnam's soft drink market even before it officially returned to bottling in the nation. But for the last several years, Coke's success has become a sore spot for Vietnamese consumers who suspect the brand is cheating the nation out of tax receipts—and a new boycott is aiming to do something about it.Continue reading...