It’s been a sunny week for Bitcoin with some interesting turbulence, some shifting fronts, the odd cloud, and a lot of bright spots. First on the plate is that Butterfly Labs is shipping their promised ASIC miners after over a 10 month delay. Canadian money regulators have sent a now-leaked letter to Bitcoin exchanges in that country telling them not to worry about registering–in the wake of the MtGox account freeze this is seen as a good thing. And on the other unexpected end, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has started accepting bitcoins for donations again.

Butterfly Labs Shipping ASIC Miners

It’s been a while now (about a 10 month delay) since people who invested in Butterfly Labs expected their mining rigs will now soon be actually seeing them. These miners are now finally being placed in the mail.

As for the delay, Butterfly Labs has made a series of terrible public relations blunders trying to assuage the concerns of those who sought to buy into the rigs. Including Josh Zerlan telling a customer they were “stupid” for asking about the delay. “You received no answer because your question was so incredibly stupid that it doesn’t deserve an answer.”

Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins, founding editor of SiliconANGLE, quipped that what largely what’s happened to Butterfly Labs is very similar to many startup company blunders and that the customer services issues have happened because Butterfly Labs is crewed by a menagerie of geeks and engineers (not high on the social graces scale.)

On the getting-the-gear-shipped scale, however, Hopkins says that Butterfly Labs is definitely making due on its promise adding that he knows people who have received their Bitcoin mining gear.

While BL may have over-promised and under-delivered so far and this is a very good reason for customers to become disgruntled. Upset customers and a company filled to the brim with very smart geeks set up the perfect storm for a PR kerfuffle.

However, looks like the ice is breaking and the delay is breaking up, meaning ASIC miners are already in the field.

Canadian Bitcoin Traders Told Not to Worry in FINTRAC Leaked Document

A letter to a Canadian Bitcoin exchange from its government’s money regulatory agency Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) explained that exchanges need not fear what happened to MtGox in the U.S. as they are not “money transmitters” and need not register as one.

Two weeks ago, MtGox had its Dwolla account frozen by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department over irregularities in how MtGox had registered as a business, claiming that MtGox was a “money transmitter” in the warrant that sized the account. This brought up fears and concerns with other Bitcoin exchanges (both inside and outside the U.S.)

I contacted LibertyBit, a Canadian Bitcoin exchange, about how the regulatory letter impacted their business and was told that it would not impact the exchange very much—as in fact the letter tells exchanges not to worry about regulations they knew they were in compliance with.

What happened to MtGox may have certainly chilled LibertyBit’s interest with the U.S. but only to make the exchange a little more wary.

“In regards to working with U.S. customers, the actions taken against Mt. Gox are certainly cause for careful consideration,” said a representative. “At this time we do not feel that there is sufficient legal basis to question our existing business model with U.S. customers. It may however impact whether we choose to pursue incorporation within the United States or the timeline for doing so.”

The EFF Resumes taking Bitcoin (After Eschewing it 2 Years Ago)

Almost two years ago, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) stopped accepting donations in bitcoins originally citing legal uncertainty. However, since that hiatus of two years the digital watchdog and legal group noted that many of these legal issues had evaporated and that it was once again safe to take BTC as donations again.

In a long and thoughtful blog post, the EFF cited reasons why it has chosen to return to accepting BTC donations. These include many of the fears that Bitcoin advocates cite about current monetary systems the world over including the ability to stifle, chill, and silence free speech via attacking monetary intermediaries.

“EFF has long tried to identify and fortify the weakest links for speech online, and payment processors remain a significant problem,” writes the EFF in their post. “We’ve seen payment processors with policies that ban speech that would be strongly protected under the First Amendment, that arbitrarily enforce those policies, and that offer no process at all for reinstating closed accounts, much less the sort of due process that the government would have to engage in to shut down speech.”

The blog post also cites recent FinCEN report that virtual currencies (including Bitcoin) are not subject to the same regulations as other money. Although that report is not binding, the EFF found it compelling enough to show that the climate against virtual currency in the US hasn’t been as harsh as expected. (Although, no doubt MtGox might disagree.)

The organization also added that EFF members keep politely asking for it.