Leading Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has released a new website that provides a simple explanation of what Bitcoin actually is. The site, Bitcoins.com, is essentially a tutorial on the virtual currency, a single unit of which last week reached the price of $1,000 for the first time ever last week. Mt. Gox's site walks users through the basics — what Bitcoin is, why people use it, and how it works — before leading into a step-by-step guide on how to get started. It's certainly not a comprehensive rundown, but the site could prove useful for the uninitiated or those who struggle to understand the Bitcoin concept.
Mt. Gox also released a new one-time password (OTP) card this week as part of an effort to strengthen the security of user accounts. The OTP card, announced Wednesday, allows users to set one-time passwords for their Mt. Gox accounts, thereby preventing hackers and scammers from gaining access to compromised accounts. (Security has been an ongoing issue for Mt. Gox and other Bitcoin-related services.) And, like many other companies this week, Mt. Gox is offering a Black Friday deal: zero-percent trading fees for four days. The promotion runs from Friday morning through midnight on Monday (Tokyo time).