LAUNCH Conference

If you love big-tits, tanned bodies, and sensual sex, you’re going to love these sites. They feature a variety of Spanish girls that love to get fucked by men.

Discover horny Spanish couples with pure national essence! Dirty homemade porn in Spanish for free.

Big-ass Latina is a trending girl on XHamster. She loves to fuck sexy guys with her big ass and huge tits.

Cumlouder

The Cumlouder network cobbles together twenty hardcore porn sites of varying flavors to claim the title of Spain’s Best Porn Network. Its members get full access to collections that feature a mixture of Latina and other sexy models who are all about big dicks, hand jobs, public flashing and anal sex and everything in between. The site offers a mix of outdoor action, indoor scenes, DP-heavy gangbangs, and even spoof porn.

The site’s home page looks a lot like the membership pages on many paysites of videos pornos, complete with an off-white background and a bright orange and white banner. The main menu includes options for Home, Videos, Categories, Live Cams, Girls and Rewards. Clicking on “Videos” will take you to something more resembling the tube sites that are more familiar, with a gallery style list of thumbnails sorted by date added rather than studio or category.

The site does not have a huge number of scene synopses on hand, so some members may struggle to understand what’s going on when watching scenes that are entirely in Spanish. However, most of the other languages spoken on the site are English and there are facilities for members to change their language preference.

YouPorn

YouPorn is a site where you can find free porn videos featuring the sexiest sluts. You can choose from many different videos that feature anal, dildo, femdom, masturbation, blowjob, footjob, licking, cock sucking and much more. The site has a wide variety of sex toys and is updated regularly. It also offers private sign-in, allowing users to keep their digital kinks a secret.

While you can use YouPorn SWYP without signing in, a YouPorn hentai account allows for a more personalized experience and access to downloads. It also makes it easier to access YourPorn’s extensive library of pornographic content, including videos starring amateur and professional adult performers.

YouPorn, owned by MindGeek (the same company that owns porn sites like Pornhub and Red Tube), is one of the world’s most popular pornography websites. YouPorn is available for iOS and Android devices, as well as desktop computers. In addition to offering a mobile-focused app, YouPorn offers an unlimited scroll that’s similar to TikTok. This allows users to watch videos continuously as they scroll and swipe left. YouPorn also uses machine learning to improve its recommendations. MailOnline has requested further clarification about how YouPorn uses this data, but has not received a response.

Pornhub

Pornhub is one of the world’s most popular adult sites, with endless NSFW videos and troves of amateur porn. However, the site isn’t without its risks. Many people worry about getting viruses or malware from the website. In addition, Pornhub has a tendency to bombard users with endless pop-ups. Some of these pop-ups can even redirect to malicious sites.

The site, now owned by MindGeek, was launched in Montreal in 2007. Since then, it has grown to be one of the largest online resources for adult content. It has offices and servers around the world, including Limassol, London, New Orleans, and Houston. The company is also a major contributor to charities that support victims of sexual assault and abuse.

In 2022, Pornhub saw the highest proportion of female visitors of any adult website. This was primarily due to a boost in popularity for gay male pornstars like Armond Rizzo and Devin Trez. In addition, women were more into Dante Colle and other top sex stars.

Despite the increase in female viewers, Pornhub faced stiff competition from other adult websites, and it was forced to introduce age verification in order to comply with state legislation. This new policy required users to submit a valid photo ID or face scan, which raised concerns about privacy issues and potential mental health harms.

Kink Network

If you are into fetish porn Kink Network is a great choice. It offers over 40 sites with a huge collection of scenes to choose from. It also features a lot of different models. You can find fetish porn, rough sex, bondage and even lesbian fisting and female domination scenes in their collection. It has a wide variety of content to offer and updates multiple times per week. It is a good value for the money and you can get full HD video downloads as well.

Kink was one of the first to adapt HD in their archives and so their 720p HD videos look really nice. You can also stream the content in a high quality flash player. Kink doesn’t have a photo gallery for every scene but they do feature a few preview pics on their free area.

The Kink Network was founded in San Francisco in 1998 and is now one of the largest fetish porn companies. It has weathered several controversies and lawsuits but continues to produce high-quality content. It is an industry leader in BDSM and fetish porn and their Kink Unlimited network pass gives you access to all of their sites including Family Tied, Fucking Machines, Sadistic Rope, Hog Tied, Device Bondage and many more.

Alt porn by Erica Lust

When Grammy-winning singer Billie Eilish called pornography a disgrace, it wasn’t the first time that many women had felt misrepresented by the medium. But porn can look very different depending on the sexual politics and vision of its creators. Take, for example, Erika Lust, the Swedish erotic filmmaker who’s made a name for herself as one of the leading alternative pornographers. She’s a self-identified feminist, holds a degree in political science, and produces movies that treat female pleasure as a legitimate art form.

Lust’s studios produce movies that celebrate the female experience and feature diverse sexualities and mujeres desnudas. She refuses to pigeonhole performers and is a staunch advocate for female consent and safety in the workplace. Her films are often about sex between lesbians, as well as gay pornography that’s both realistic and intense.

In addition to erotic films, Lust’s production company also makes crowd-sourced artistic adult shorts based on members’ anonymous secret confessions. Her latest project, XConfessions, is currently in its fifth season. These movies aren’t for everyone, but they do show how pornography can change when directors like Lust put their hearts into the process.

Getting funding from the right investor is a game-changer for startups and can mean the difference between the life and death of a company. CyberHeaven closed its first investment in Warsaw-based Arkley Brinc in November 2019, when the company started. It recently raised an additional PLN 1,000,000 from a new investor, Bridge Alfa Fund, in January 2021. Late February In 2020, Skillshare launched a funding round that closed last summer at $ 71 million, raising more than the company initially planned to manage unexpected growth.

Before the pandemic, the company expected sales to grow to 27% in 2020. The company expects sales to normalize in 2021 as the pandemic subsides but still expects big porn revenue to rise from 35% to 45% in addition to growth in recent years. Food delivery company HelloFresh boosted sales by 107% last year after the pandemic boosted demand. Last year HelloFresh added 7,000 employees and three new US distribution centers to manage growth.

After growing 30 percent in 2019, the sector weathered the devastating impact of the pandemic. Set to grow 20 percent in 2020, surpassing $ 5 billion in total exports for the first time.

In addition to these venture capital expenditures in Polish companies, they increased by more than 800% in 2019, which indicates the rapid growth of Polish startups. Most of these startups hail from Warsaw, but some originated in Krakow. In addition, entrepreneurs are not afraid to start new companies as they receive support from foreign and Polish venture capitalists. Finally, Sveboda xhamster notes that Polish tech companies are raising more capital, which is happening faster than ever.

Moreover, many Polish companies have already announced significant rounds before the end of this year. PFR Ventures and Inovo Venture Partners have published a study, “Transactions in the Polish Venture Capital Market in Q3 2021,” indicating that the cost of investing in Round A home startups has risen in recent months. In addition, a July 2020 Dealroom report found over 2,400 Polish early and late-stage startups, 97 venture funds and cataloged over 1,600 funding rounds in 2019. With Warsaw being the most prominent startup hub in the country, investments in Polish startups grew in 2019. eight times a year to reach € 294 million.

Polish startups are looking for funding because the average pre-investment inspection amount has nearly tripled since 2013. The excellent news for Poles is that more and more domestic and international venture capitalists are seeking to invest in Polish technology companies. Therefore, Poland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is growing and should be regarded as a “topic” by global investors.

Poland a land of hope

Many new venture capital funds were born in Warsaw and Poland over the past 1-2 years, so there is a lot of competition to find great startups. For example, according to CB Insights, digital startups in healthcare, education, and fitness raised record amounts of capital in 2020, raising a total of $ 41.4 billion in funding. Even low-income startups are gaining skyrocketing ratings as investors gamble on future growth. According to think tank Briter Bridges, the total venture capital of African startups grew to $ 1.31 billion (€ 1.08 billion) in 2020 from $ 1.27 billion in 2019.

Most startups require external funding to start and expand their businesses, especially when developing and manufacturing equipment (as in the case of CyberHeaven). Therefore, many advise early-stage companies to plan their finances and stay vigilant for unforeseen difficulties wisely. A new study found that 92% of startups fail (20% in the first year, often due to lack of funds), so raising enough capital to fund operations and foster growth is critical.

Therefore, the integration of Polish companies with a huge demand for experts and those who want to be part of the Polish economic success. According to the corporate concierge formula, this formula can help each company and startup cooperate with the Polish Investment and Trade Agency or the Polish Prize Program. So far, the program has selected 20 startups from 150 applications to provide opportunities for migration to Poland, financial support, and entry into the Polish ecosystem.

A new hope for new startups

By participating in the Poland Prize program run by the Polish Business Development Agency, new startups can apply for PBH funding for a maximum amount of up to PLN 300,000. Overall, this Polish startup has raised $ 3.1 million to fund its pioneering work in this area. Synerise has established itself well in the Polish startup ecosystem, with the company successfully raising $ 19.2 million from a group of four investors.

Founded by Grzegorz Lech and Patrick Pawlikowski, the company raised $ 660,000 last year in a seed round led by bValue Venture Capital. In addition, VersaBoxs’ robotic technology has resulted thsat showup in the company receiving a significant level of attention from outside investors, with a Warsaw-based startup receiving $ 4.8 million in startup funding from four investors. With the money and technical expertise needed to expand an already impressive product portfolio, 2022 could be a fascinating year for the company.

The company connects users, companies, and express delivery to obtain the best products in the city quickly. Glovo, a Barcelona-based startup, is a very successful platform for the on-demand delivery of goods. The Spanish startup TravelPerk provides a corporate travel management platform to help companies book business travel, and this is no exception.

For regions such as Central and Eastern Europe, which are already a growing source of energetic startups and entrepreneurs, this has also led to a renewed focus on startups offering new solutions for jobs and safe recreation in pandemic and post-pandemic environments.

Sifted asked seven prominent venture capitalists from across the region to predict some trends and startups that could thrive and flourish in the coming period (while staying away from companies they’ve already invested in). SMOK Ventures is a US and Polish venture capital fund based in Warsaw that invests $ 50,000 to $ 1 million in Polish early-stage startups focusing on software and games. Here’s a compilation of Forbes’ 25 VC-backed startups most likely to become unicorns.

The main objectives of the Innovation Week will be to bring together the country’s prominent startups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and other national/international stakeholders. All these efforts will host a specially organized event on innovation and entrepreneurship and exchange knowledge on best practices for ecosystem development Launch. In addition, with the help of foreign experts, the group will analyze the possibility of introducing nuclear energy to ensure the safety of Estonians. In partnership with Crunchbase, Startup Genome has just released the GSER Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021, which ranks the world’s top 30 and 10 ecosystems in second place and the top 100 emerging ecosystems.

The Estonian government attaches great importance to this industry and regards it as one of the economic leaders. StartupBlink released the 2021 Global Entrepreneur Ecosystem Index Report. For many people, this has been a turbulent year. The top five global entrepreneurial ecosystems dominate, Silicon Valley ranked first, followed by New York and London for the second year in a row. In the 2021 Global Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Report, Estonia ranks sixth in the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem, one of the world’s most comprehensive and widely read entrepreneurial research.

Rapid growth

Poland is the most developed country in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Its entrepreneurial ecosystem is also developing rapidly, with thousands of startup companies and an increasing number of venture capital companies, accelerators, and incubators. Jablonskaya stated that Poland’s ecosystem had undergone tremendous changes in the past ten years. Due to the country’s changing innovative methods and the strong interest shown by the government and large companies in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, it can create value in the following areas Potential economy.

In 2018, venture capital funds invested 178 million euros (0.033% of GDP) in Polish startups. As of early 2021, there are 18 companies with venture capital and growth capital on the local market, and the total funding for technology startups exceeds 200 million euros. According to MAGNiTT’s Middle East and North Africa Roksa Venture Capital Report for the first half of 2019, 238 startup investment agreements were signed in the first half of 2019 for a total of $ 471 million in investment.

In 2021, Indian venture capitalists believed the deal flow would remain stable as global funds continue to seek to invest in the Indian startup ecosystem. Evaluation of startups in Southeast Asia, where popular online platforms such as Grab and Sea thrive, has become irrational due to the large inflow of capital from global investors, a venture partner.

For the first time, startups purchased a large number of domains.

According to a recent report on the ecosystem of Greek startups prepared by management consultants Foundation.ation, venture capital and venture debt in the country continued to rise. However, the Angel Scene remains little known. Although Greece has been getting more attention and international headlines lately, the release of Softomotive, as mentioned, was good news for the local ecosystem, along with some upbeat rounds for Athens-based startups like TileDB, Plum, and others.

Apart from travel tech startups, everyone else has grown in 2020 and recovered from the first big wave of the pandemic.

“We estimate that our first foundation helped create over 30 new millionaires. So anyway, I am confident that we will be making money both for our records and for ourselves on the way to funding the next Polish unicorns. But we are endless players: as long as we can be part of the ecosystem and support the founders, I will be happy.” One insider said.

At this stage, we need to increase investment to expand the impact on the ecosystem and create a solid upward funnel for startups. The difference here is that we have 4-6 funds targeting early-stage tech startups for the first time.

In the past ten rounds, nine startups in Latin America are receiving funding from venture capital firm 500 Global, a prolific incubator for fast-growing technology companies worldwide.

Tech startups and the venture capital ecosystem transforming nascent ideas and companies into disruptive ventures are growing for 2022. In recent years, the startup ecosystem has undergone many changes with the influx of large sums of domestic and foreign funds, consolidation, innovation, technology development, and a growing domestic market.

There’s opportunity for everyone

Over the past five years, 2.7 billion euros have bought tranquility among Scandinavian startups. Startups such as Uber, Airbnb, Flipkart, Xiaomi, and Didi Chuxing are highly regarded startups, commonly known as unicorns, where venture capitalists contribute more than early-stage funding for these companies. They also often provide strategic advice to its management on a business model and marketing strategies.

The liberalization of single-member companies (OPC) should help young startups and innovators with limited funds to formalize as soon as possible. In addition, startup companies have a one-year tax-free extension. Furthermore, the capital gain exemption for startup investment has also been extended for one year until March 31, 2022.

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by venture capital firms or foundations to startups, early-stage companies, and emerging companies. These companies have high growth potential or have demonstrated high growth rates (the number of employees, annual turnover, scale of operations, etc.).

The country’s first unicorn startup came in 2011 with InMobi, a privately held mobile advertising startup. With over 50,000 established startups and over 70 unicorns as of 2021, we are one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in the world.

Startups and scale-ups are important innovators in the economy and a crucial part of the Dutch economy in terms of new business activities and job creation. By setting up small but strong start-ups in the Netherlands, they are working towards growth and success.

The strong growth of the Dutch start-up sector is due to the favorable economic situation. The Dutch start-up industry is very Dutch and known for its high social and logistical links to the rest of the world, the intensity with which Dutch start-ups access the market and the mature investment climate. The Start-up Sector is very strong due to the attractive Dutch financial climate, the fast and easy registration process for companies and the near perfect physical and digital infrastructure.

The Dutch government is trying to create a better start-up scene and make the Dutch start-up sector a more advantageous market for start-ups, there’s even hope for industries like the porno industry that can be saved from the abyss. There is an upward trend in the number of financing opportunities and deals for startups. Every day, more government and EU initiatives start to support Dutch start-ups to bring innovations to market.

No signs of retreat

The Dutch start-up scene is showing no signs of retreat, and we are pleased that it will grow in 2021. Against this backdrop, here are ten promising young Dutch startups that were founded between 2018 and 2020, growing teams that are working on innovative missions and sending promising signals, such as raising funds last year. The online festival “New Dutch Wave” from 16 to 20 March 2021 represented the creative and innovative Dutch industry with a special program that included interactive booths, partner searches, interviews and other activities-

In terms of capital, the Netherlands is a real magnet for startups and ranks as the fourth most active startup hub in Europe. Fintech startups attracted $1.7 billion in investment capital, up 43% from a year earlier, according to Agfunder.

When you talk to people who are at the center of the Dutch start-up scene, things get to the point where the first two names you hear are the same. The most successful startups and Fortune 500 companies are founded by individuals from the United States.

The Dutch nation is a haven for start-ups thanks to government support, a driven work ethic, an open culture, the fastest broadband speeds in Europe, a wealth of world-class incubator and acceleration programs and a high level of innovation. If you are a founder in the Netherlands, you can obtain a one-year startup visa, which includes a temporary residence permit, and you will be supported by the country’s mentors.

An advantageous position

While Amsterdam draws the lion’s share of attention to the Dutch tech ecosystem, not every region outside Utrecht has its fair share of tech startups and investors, as our recent survey of the locals shows. Ecosystem contenders such as StartupUTrecht, UTRecht.inc, Holland Startups, the UPRecht community and others are bringing together startups, scaleups, corporate angels, VCs, local governments, banks and universities to build a local ecosystem for start-ups. They also benefit from the impressive initiative Netherlands Tech Advocates, StartupDelta, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, which promotes the country’s technology ecosystem.

Dealroom.co is an Amsterdam data company that tracks funding rounds for businesses in many regions, including the Netherlands. Boling Jiang is co-founder and CEO of Bullchat, David Nichols is co-founder, chief design officer and Jason Kruse is co-founder and CTO of Lithic.

For a fixed monthly fee, users receive a bicycle that the start-up maintains and repairs. Zwolle and Veneta say they believe that knowledge-oriented employees are encouraged to let their tails relax by participating in team activities such as table football and mini golf. Every day, a team lunch made with organic ingredients is prepared in the company’s office in Amsterdam, and on Fridays the company has its own bar and DJ.

When we think of the Netherlands, most of us think of canals, bicycles and tulip fields. Amsterdam Picnic is the fastest growing company in the Netherlands and Europe’s fastest growing online supermarket, according to LinkedIn.

Start-ups thrive among COVID crisis

Since the beginning of the pandemic in the Netherlands, the job market was tough for job seekers, but startups are bucking the trend and proving to be the number one job engine in the country. While many large companies have been forced to cut staff, startups have been more resilient, recording a 4% increase in job vacancies in the second quarter of 2020. Dutch tech startup projects that are scheduled to be discontinued and financed in 2021 include HousingAnywhere, Felyx, Lalaland Creative, Fabrica, ChannelEngine, Quin, Kambr and Axoniq.

As we enter the new decade, the Dutch start-up ecosystem shows little sign of slowing down. According to the Startup Genome Project, the Netherlands is on the rise as the fifth-best startup ecosystem in Europe.

Dutch venture capital investment was estimated at $36.8 billion between January and June 2021. Commercial real estate start-up Dreesz made a Series A back-to-back investment totaling A $3 million in July and November 2019.

The Amsterdam-based company, which launched in 2016, has a $10 million Series A investment in June 2020. As a service startup, office Skepp provides organizations with digital products to improve the engagement between tenants and landlords in order to improve offices.a Skepp was founded in 2013 and raised A $1.5 million in Series A investments in April 2019. In 2020, edutech, a start-up, collected A $5m in total, A $3m in May and A $2m in December 2020.

Dutch Startup Conference

The Dutch Startup Conference 2021 is our first annual conference for Dutch startup. The event brings together founders, VCs, executive executives, seed fund partners, general partners, journalists and bloggers from different backgrounds and industries. If we leave the pandemic behind, 2021 will be a year of different needs, values, and societal changes that will determine the nature of the start-up ecosystem. At mid-term, we will present the main trends that will emerge in 2021, as well as an overview of the companies and sectors that will receive the most investment and start-ups that will employ the most.

Dyme, one of our most popular Amsterdam startups, uses smart and innovative technology to help its users understand their personal finances and to inform them about potential financial opportunities. By connecting users bank accounts, Dyme provides a clear overview of fixed costs and offers one-click cancellation for switching between subscriptions.

Fintech company Spotcap uses smart technologies to process applications and perform credit risk analyses. SwishFund (crunchbase website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) Swishfund revolutionizes corporate lending by providing short-term (3-6 months) loans to SMEs. Opium (Crunchbase Team) (website, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin) The Opium team develops innovative financial products using new technologies that challenge the traditional financial sector.

FinTech industry thriving

Peak, a new fintech start-up backed by Rabobank, invests your changes in multiple exchange-traded funds (ETFs) around the world, delivering high returns on low-risk investments such as individual stocks and bonds. Blanco Services (Crunchbase website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) Blanco Services mission is to help asset managers grow their business by focusing on customer investments.

The FinTech industry has been growing for years, and the market is slowly filling up with early-stage financial service providers and FinTech startups seeking to meet customer needs and shape the future of finance. Several innovative financial services and large fintech companies are accelerating growth, attracting investors and offering new financial products and services. Get business insights into the latest technological innovations, market trends, your competitors and data-driven research.

Serious contenders

The ecosystem contenders such as Startup UTRECHT, Beeg Utrecht.inc, Holland Startups, the Uintrecht Community and others bring together startups, scaleups, corporate angels, VCs, local governments, banks and universities to build a local start-up ecosystem. They also benefit from the impressive Netherlands Tech Advocates and StartupDelta initiative, the Dutch entrepreneur agency that promotes the country’s technology ecosystem. Untrecht has offices and co-working spaces such as Dotslash (Utrecht de Stadstuin), Mindspace, Tribe Accelerator Program, StartupBootcamp and Techleap.

Another cool start-up we are excited about is the Virtual Reality Learning Lab. The start-up has set itself the task of enabling developers to develop the next generation of intelligent devices. The VR Learning Lab came into being when founder Robins realized that educational companies and schools were interested in VR, but lacked the tools to use it in this way.

Prepaid Funeral Plans Comparing Future Planning as a LAUNCH on Awareness in the UK

Funeral Plans and Prepaying

Suffering a bereavement is one of the worst things a family can go through, as losing a loved one is a heart-wrenching and sometimes an untimely occurrence. After a tragic event or even before, you must plan carefully to ensure a funeral is a memorable and unforgettable for the people closest to the deceased. Understanding the details involved with a funeral is important: this can be explained by many reputable funeral care companies.

Emotions can run high and allowing a company to take the finer details out of your hands maybe the best option. Grieving for the deceased is extremely important, as it is part of the healing process.

Comparing Funeral Plans

There are many companies in the market place that offer sound financial funeral packages and put the needs of the customer first. To find the best price, you must compare funeral plans scrupulously – this will ensure that you find the best deal and a plan that works for you. Essentially, you need to compare plans so that you find a plan that is both affordable and understandable for all involved.

Top Companies for Funerals Care Plans and Compare Funeral Plans

Below are a list of companies who offer funeral care packages, so you can compare funeral plans and make a decision:

(1) The Co-Operative offer comprehensive packages where they tailor their services to the needs of the customer. They have over a 100 years of experience in the industry and profess to be one of the leading companies in relation to the advice they give in their funeral plans.

(2)Age UK are one of the leading lights in the funeral care plan industry and also offer the ‘personal touch’ when it comes to discussing a policy. You can request a free pack via their website or you are alternatively encouraged to call so that you discuss your situation and seek a policy that meets your needs. Age UK is seen as one of the most accommodating funeral care companies and definitely one worth considering.

(3)Asda 50+ offer very attractive funeral care packages and are competitively priced against rival companies. Asda proclaim that the quoting process is both simple and straightforward, so that a plan can be tailored to your needs very quickly. It also states on the website that no medical questions will be asked, so your medical history can be protected.

(4)Sun Life Direct have been one of the leading companies in the funeral care business for a very long time. The website is extremely straightforward and lists options for taking out a new policy or claiming a cash sum before a funeral, if you already have a policy. Importantly, the process for the customer is easy and the minor details are dealt with and explained by the experts Sun Life employs. Sun Life still actively advertise on the small screen and there adverts are normally some of the most recognizable!

(5) LV is another company with a stranglehold in this industry. Cover can be taken from as little as £7 a week and claims to be rate at 9/10 by a majority of current and new customers.

(6)The Post Office are already strong players in the loan and savings industries, but also a very attractive per-paid funeral care plan. According to their websites their telephone lines are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. An extremely impressive claim!

(7)Bupa are renowned for offering an exemplary service in the funeral care service sector. You can take out a pre-paid cash plan with this company to ensure that yourself or others are covered when it comes to funeral expenses. Essentially, this company comes highly recommended and has very good ratings on Trust Pilot.

(8) Aviva offers a very attractive funeral health care plan, whereby customers can insert their details online and it finds the best monthly payment package. Aviva is not on comparison websites and comes highly recommend.

(9)Tesco Bank offers life insurance polices that are similar to that of other leading company’s funeral care policies. However, an advantage of buying a life care plan from Tesco Bank would be the clubcard points and in-store benefits that are offered with a policy.

(10)Other smaller companies: If you spend time looking on the internet and compare funeral plans accurately, you will come across smaller companies that offer many perks and offer more attractive monthly deals. When you compare funeral plans in relation to smaller companies you normally get a better deal, much like going through a broker with car insurance.

Solid discussions of this piece on BoingBoing.net, Hacker News, Slashdot and Reddit. Rob Tercek has a follow up to this piece here.

by Jason Calacanis and the LAUNCH team

A month ago I heard folks talking online about a virtual currency called bitcoin that is untraceable and un-hackable. Folks were using it to buy and sell drugs online, support content they liked and worst of all — gasp! — play poker.

Bitcoin is a P2P currency that could topple governments, destabilize economies and create uncontrollable global bazaars for contraband.

I sent the 30 or so producers of my show This Week in Startups out to research the top players, and we did a show on Bitcoin on May 10. Since that time the number of bitcoin stories has surged.

After month of research and discovery, we’ve learned the following:

1. Bitcoin is a technologically sound project.
2. Bitcoin is unstoppable without end-user prosecution.
3. Bitcoin is the most dangerous open-source project ever created.
4. Bitcoin may be the most dangerous technological project, since the internet itself.
5. Bitcoin is a political statement by technotarians (technological libertarians).*
6. Bitcoins will change the world unless governments ban them with harsh penalties.

What Are Bitcoins?
Bitcoins are virtual coins in the form of a file that is stored on your device. These coins can be sent to and from users three ways:

1. Direct with peer-to-peer software downloaded at bitcoin.org
2. Via an escrow service like ClearCoin
3. Via a bitcoin currency exchange

Each owner transfers the coin to the next by digitally signing a hash of the previous transaction and the public key of the next owner and adding these to the end of the coin. A payee can verify the signatures to verify the chain of ownership.

The benefits of a currency like this:

a) Your coins can’t be frozen (like a Paypal account can be)
b) Your coins can’t be tracked
c) Your coins can’t be taxed
d) Transaction costs are extremely low (sorry credit card companies)

You can watch a simple video here: http://jc.is/jlcte0

Where Do Bitcoins Come From?
Bitcoins are created by a complex algorithm. Only 21M can be made by the year 2140. Your desktop bitcoin software can make bitcoins, but at this point the electricity and time it would take to produce a bitcoin is larger than the actual value of a bitcoin (your laptop might take five years to make one, and they currently trade at $6.70 per bitcoin [ see https://mtgox.com/trade/buy for the latest exchange rate ].

Bitcoin miners use super cheap GPUs (not CPUs) to create the coins, but as more people come online to make them, the algorithm adjusts so that one block can only be made every 10 minutes.

Who Invented Bitcoins?
An individual with the name — or perhaps handle — of Satoshi Nakamoto first wrote about bitcoins in a paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. This person has stepped back from the project and trusted Gavin Andresen to take charge as the project’s technical lead.

How Does One Buy and Sell Bitcoin?
Currently Paypal and credit card companies are making it illegal to sell bitcoins. Why? Simple: PayPal’s terms of service prohibit “currency exchange.”

CoinPal had its account frozen, details here.

Given that you can’t whip out your Paypal account and buy them, and that it will become harder and harder to get them, bitcoins will be bartered for services in the real world.

For example, a Hacker News community member named Nicholas Carlson just boasted that he is being paid for a programming project in bitcoins.

Bitcoins in Real Life
In the next year you’ll hear about people in casinos in Vegas buying and sell bitcoins for cash and casino chips.

Imagine a bachelor party comes to Vegas and STNY (someone that’s not you) gives $550 to a guy at a bar and he takes out his laptop or tablet and ships 100 bitcoins to STNY’s phone. STNY then goes to Craigslist and ships some bitcoins to an escort and a drug dealer, who then show up in person to provide goods and services.

The Drug Underground and Bitcoin
Last month folks were buzzing about an online drug marketplace called SilkRoadMarket, which was reportedly trading in, well, all kinds of drugs: marijuana, mushrooms, LSD, ecstasy and DMT.

Of course, since bitcoin transactions are untraceable, you would have zero recourse if you sent a dozen bitcoins to someone for a couple of tabs of LSD. Just like you might lose your $10 if you gave it to a kid in the school yard for a dime bag and he never came back.

Let’s Make Some Predictions
We are 100% certain that governments will start banning bitcoins in the next 12 to 18 months. Additionally, we’re certain bitcoins will soar in value and a crush of folks will flood the system and start using them.

Currently there are 6M coins at $6.70 each for a total economy of about $40M. Bitcoin speculation and hoarding will also cause a massive spike in bitcoin value. For example, if 10M people find out about bitcoins in the next year and want to buy $100 worth, $1B will be infused into the bitcoin economy.

Finally, there will be massive breakage in bitcoins. If your laptop crashes and you didn’t back up your bitcoins, well, you’re SOL. If someone steals you laptop that has 10,000 bitcoins on it you won on Bitcoin Poker, you’re SOL. Lost your USB drive with 500 bitcoins on it after a night out on the town? You’re SOL.

Sites like 99designs, eLance and oDesk will start accepting bitcoins for payment. If they don’t, they will face competition from folks who do.

Bottom line: The world is going to be turned over by bitcoins unless governments step in and ban them by prosecuting individuals.

This is about to get really interesting, everyone.

* We made this term up to describe the “good people” of the internet who believe in the fundamental rights of individuals to be free, have free speech, fight hypocrisy and stand behind logic, technology and science over religion, political structure and tradition. These are the people who build and support things like Wikileaks, Anonymous, Linux and Wikipedia. They think that people can, and should, govern themselves. They are against external forms of control such as DRM, laws that are bought and sold by lobbyists, and religions like Scientology. They include splinter groups that enforce these ideals in the form of hacktivism, such as the takedown of the Sony Playstation Network after Sony tried to prosecute a hacker for unlocking its console.

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TWIST Bitcoin episode
Full show here.

Gavin explains the fundamentals of Bitcoin – clip

Who is Satoshi, the mysterious bitcoin founder? clip

The million-dollar bitcoin question: Can the system be hacked? clip

Jason sets his software to generate bitcoins and Gavin explains why that’s a bad idea – clip

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LAUNCH Coda
#61: Money changes everything if you let it.