Coin News

CoinDesk speaks with Ascribe CTO Trent McConaghy, who co-founded a startup behind a blockchain-powered IP ownership platform.

Many people use LocalBitcoins for many reasons, but lately its volume has increased a lot. This, of course, brings up the question of what it means for Bitcoin. Is Bitcoin going mainstream, are people stocking up for a coming increase, or is LocalBitcoins one of the more convenient places to sell bitcoins these days? It's hard to tell if any, or all of these are the case. Indeed, LocalBitcoins is one of the fastest ways to get it done. After three confirmations, if you find a buyer, you complete your transaction and you have your money. Also read: Greece is […]

The post LocalBitcoins Trading Up, Bitcoin Going Mainstream? appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Featuring 75+ top experts’ specific strategies and recommendations as well as in-depth classes on current hot sectors such as on REITs and cannabis investing SARASOTA, FL, June 25, 2015 – MoneyShow, the world’s leading producer of investment tradeshows and cruises, will host The MoneyShow San Francisco, July 16-18, 2015, at the Marriott Marquis San Francisco. http://yBitcoin.SanfranciscoMoneyShow.com   Admission is free and thousands of investors from more than ten countries are expected to attend, joining over 75 globally-renowned money managers, economists, financial newsletter editors, tech and biotech company CEOs, media personalities who will be speaking in person at the Show. Kicking off this event at our opening ceremonies will be author, economist, and technologist George Gilder, creator of ‘Telecosm’, who will […]

The post The MoneyShow San Francisco – Where Informed Investors Discover Tomorrow’s Unique Growth & Income Investments Today! appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

On August 3rd 2015, the FinTech conference Keynote2015 will be landing in Los Angeles to unpack distributed ledgers – the tech behind bitcoin – and enlighten participants as to how they can revolutionize the financial world with this radical new ledger. Geared for those that want to know not only how this new disruptive tech works, but how it can work for them, Keynote2015 offers a compact one-day agenda that boasts the biggest and brightest names in the industry, including Surash Ramamurthi, Yobie Benjamin, and Aaron Cooper from the DOJ. Keynote2015 will take place in the opulent surrounds of the Legendary Park Plaza Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Representatives from businesses such as Paypal, Square, Twitter and Uber will be […]

The post KEYNOTE 2015: Rebooting Finance with a New Kind of Ledger appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

There has been a longstanding debate within the Bitcoin ecosystem on the concept of regulation and standardization of the industry. There are generally two camps of Bitcoin enthusiasts. One side contends that Bitcoin was meant not to be regulated. The other side wants to work alongside regulators to bring about mass adoption of the digital currency. Currently, it is very easy for a wallet manufacturer to make claims about privacy that cannot be easily checked by the average user. Recent scams and fraudulent players in a rapidly growing industry have prompted both sides to reach a consensus; the industry needs a watchdog to protect consumers. Enter the Watchmen Last March Bitcoin Magazine covered C4’s announcement of a new Crypto Security […]

The post Bitcoin Standardization, Security and Accountability: the DCC, C4, and OBPP appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Brazilian Congressman Manoel Junior has proposed a public hearing to discuss the potential regulation of bitcoin and the blockchain.

People who live in Spain will now have a new option to buy bitcoins locally, with ease. A service called Coinay has been launched in 3,000 Spanish stores allowing people to go and spend cash for bitcoins, without all the fuss. In essence, the buyer purchases a voucher and then redeems the voucher for bitcoins. As with any product, consumers will still need a reason to buy it. Consumers buy other vouchers because they have a need of them, such as a Facebook credit voucher or a prepaid debit card. "With Coinay, we can enable customers to buy easily bitcoins […]

The post New Spanish Service Lets People Buy Bitcoin at 3,000 Local Stores appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said that his government intends to ban strong encryption, UK’s leading political news website politics.co.uk reports. In reply to Tory Member of Parliament Henry Bellingham, who asked the prime minister whether the attacks in Tunisia meant it was time companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter understand that their current privacy policies are completely unsustainable, Cameron said that the security services must always be able to spy on online communications. “Britain is not a state that is trying to search through everybody’s emails and invade their privacy,” said Cameron. “We just want to ensure that terrorists do not have a safe space in which to communicate. That is the challenge, and it is a challenge […]

The post Internet Activists Ridicule PM Cameron’s Plan to Ban Strong Encryption in the UK appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Paypal announced on Wednesday that it was acquiring San Francisco-based Xoom, a company that facilitates the digital transfer of money internationally, Forbes reports. The all-cash deal values Xoom at $890 million, or $25 a share. “Expanding into international money transfer and remittances aligns with our strategic vision to democratize the movement and management of money,” said PayPal President Dan Schulman. “Acquiring Xoom allows PayPal to offer a broader range of services to our global customer base, increase customer engagement and enter an important and growing adjacent marketplace,” he said. “Xoom’s presence in 37 countries – in particular, Mexico, India, the Philippines, China and Brazil – will help us accelerate our expansion in these important markets.” Xoom is a digital money […]

The post Weeks Before the eBay Split, PayPal Acquires Digital Payment Provider Xoom appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Readers may already be familiar with Bitwage, the San Francisco-based company that lets people receive part of their earnings in bitcoins. It works pretty simply. The user delegates a portion of each paycheck to the Bitwage account, and in return he is credited with bitcoins to any wallet he chooses. Bitwage COO Jonathan Chester spoke to CCN and told us that there are three kinds of customers looking to use Bitwage at the moment. There are the ones who are just looking to build steadily up Bitcoin, long-term holders. There are those who are looking to take the funds and […]

The post Bitwage Launches Cloud Savings with BitReserve appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Greece's ruling Syriza party just got a huge boost for their campaign to get Greeks to reject current bailout proposals in Sunday's referendum.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), one of Greece's three main creditors, admitted Thursday that Greece's debts need restructuring.

That's pretty much the key demand Greece has been making all along. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis told Bloomberg TV earlier Thursday that he'd rather "cut his arm off" than sign a new bailout deal that didn't include rehashing the deals to make payment dates more realistic.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his ruling Syriza party's major issue with bailout proposals so far has been that they effectively turn Greece into a zombie country, stumbling along the poverty line and existing solely to pay off its heavy debts.

The IMF admits in its latest debt sustainability report on Greece that things have deteriorated so badly over the last year that debts are currently "unsustainable" and the country can't cope with any debt repayments for at least 3 years, even if things start moving back in the right direction. Greece's next payment — €3.5 billion (£2.5 billion, $3.89 billion) to the European Central Bank — is due July 20.

It also admits Greece will probably need a debt "haircut" — writing off some of the money it owes.

Some of the IMF's proposals are even more radical — one idea is to give Greece a 20-year "grace period" during which it wouldn't have to pay debts.

Greece's economy has been crippled by huge debt demands, shrinking 25% over the last five years, and the IMF says the country will need €50 billion (£35.5 billion, $55.5 billion) to survive over just the next 3 years.

All of this is a huge boost for Tsipras, who told Greeks in a TV address on Wednesday that the country's creditors need to give it "breathing space."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Forget the Apple Watch — here's the new watch everyone on Wall Street wants

Disgraced DEA agent Carl Force has pleaded guilty to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The official committed the crimes while himself investigating the online black market Silk Road, as well as the activities of its ...

Bitcoin entrepreneurs don't often openly discuss the gambles they're taking. In this telling clip, they do, revealing the risks that worry them

Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg is persuaded that we will become telepathic species. The technology of social networks like Facebook will, someday, become so advanced that people will be able to exchange thoughts directly, brain to brain, just like we exchange pictures of cats today.

The post Telepathy is the Ultimate Communication Technology, says Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Stephan Vogler has created a license inspired by the block chain which seeks to transform how the art world works. Vogler’s vision entails a system of rights to copyrighted works in digital form. CCN interviewed Vogler about his vision for the future of art on the block chain, but, before answering my questions, he wished to impart a story about the influence of technology on art history. He believes this process will transpire once more as the Bitcoin block chain creates a new way of owning and trading art. You can view an example of the license here. “In the […]

The post Exclusive Interview: Stephan Vogler On Copyrighting Digital Art appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Former DEA agent Carl Mark Force IV has admitted stealing over $700,000 worth of bitcoin whilst running the Baltimore Silk Road investigation.

London-based bitcoin exchange Coinfloor has announced the launch of a broker-based peer-to-peer marketplace.

George Galloway, London, U.K. mayoral candidate who is using block chain technology in running his 2016 campaign, has called for the city to adopt block chain technology to provide full public accountability of government business. Galloway was scheduled to present his outline for London’s future today at the Railway Tavern in Liverpool Street. He was to be joined by Max Keiser, host of the “Keiser Report.” Galloway and Keiser are promoters of MayorsChain, an initiative to use the block chain for managing government business.  The Public's Right to Transparency “Since governments spend public funds on shared public resources, the public has […]

The post London Mayoral Candidate George Galloway Calls for City Government to use Block Chain for Public Accountability appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Six employees of Bitstamp were targeted in a weeks-long phishing attempt leading up to the theft of roughly $5m in bitcoin in January, according to an incident report said to be drafted internally by the bitcoin exchange.

The confidential document, posted to Reddit by a single-purpose account, offers an in-depth look into what is believed to be the inside story of the hack, which resulted in the loss of just under 19,000 BTC earlier this year. Since then, the company has offered scant details on what took place behind the scenes, citing confidentiality regarding the investigation into the lost funds.

The report’s findings are notable as they illustrate the risks facing bitcoin exchanges, including social engineering attacks in which personal information is used to trick victims into providing a means of access to sensitive materials.

In the case of Bitstamp, those behind the attack used Skype and email to communicate with employees and attempt to distribute files containing malware by appealing to their personal histories and interests. Bitstamp’s system became compromised after systems administrator Luka Kodric downloaded a file that he believed had been sent by a representative for an organization that was seeking his membership.

The report, attributed to Bitstamp general counsel George Frost, explained:

“On 11th December, as part of this offer, the attacker sent a number of attachments. One of these, UPE_application_form.doc, contained obfuscated malicious VBA script. When opened, this script ran automatically and pulled down a malicious file from IP address 185.31.209.145, thereby compromising the machine.”

Ultimately, the attackers were able to access two servers containing the wallet.dat file for Bitstamp’s hot wallet and the passphrase for that file.

The information contained in the report is said to be sourced from a third-party investigation conducted by digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg, as well as from investigators working for the US Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and UK-based cybercrime authorities.

As of the report’s drafting, the investigation into the hack was still ongoing but an arrest was expected in the near future. The report alludes to an effort by investigators to create "a ‘honey trap’ to lure [the attacker] into the UK in order to make an arrest."

Bitstamp declined to comment on the authenticity of the report when reached. A representative for Stroz Friedberg was not immediately available for comment.

Extended phishing attempt

According to the report, the earliest phishing attempt took place on 4th November, when one of the attackers contacted Bitstamp chief technology officer Damian Merlak offering free tickets to a punk rock festival.

Chief operating officer Miha Grcar was contacted by Skype in mid-Novemer by someone posing as a reporter. In that exchange, the individual cited past articles written by Grcar when he himself was a reporter covering news in Greece.

The report notes:

“On 26th November, as part of this from within an offline file (such as a Word document). exchange, ivan.foreignpolicy attempted to send a word document of a recent article, ostensibly seeking comment from Mr Grcar. Mr Grcar declined to accept the document.”

Two days prior, Bitstamp support manager Anzej Simicak was also reached by way of Skype, and in that instance the attacker posed as someone seeking more information on RippleWise, a project for which Simicak acts as COO.

In early December, several more Bitstamp staff members were contacted, including Kodric, whose account was ultimately compromised. Employee Miha Hrast’s computer was then compromised after being messaged on Skype, though he did not have access privileges for the servers.

Server compromised

After Kodric’s computer was infiltrated, according to the report, additional malicious files were created between 17th and 22nd December. On 23rd December, Kodric’s account was used to log in to the server that held the wallet.dat file.

On 29th December, the attackers leveraged Kodric’s computer to access the servers containing the wallet.dat file and the wallet passphrase.

“We suspect that the attacker copied the bitcoin wallet file and passphrase at this stage, due to the correlation between the size of these files and the size of the data transfer seen on the logs,” the report notes. “Although the actual content of the transfers cannot be confirmed from the logs available.”

Less than a week later, the report continues, the wallet was emptied, noting:

“On 4th January, the attacker drained the Bitstamp wallet, as evidenced on the blockchain. Although the maximum content of this wallet was 5,000 bitcoins at any one time, the attacker was able to steal over 18,000 bitcoins throughout the day as further deposits were made by customers.”

Quick response

Bitstamp moved quickly to assess and mitigate the damage, according to report, issuing a company-wide alert and establishing an incident response team. The company became aware of the theft on the evening of 4th January, and after auditing the servers discovered the 29th December entry and the data transfer.

Stroz Friedberg began its investigation on 8th January, operating out of the company’s Slovenian office.

The report notes:

“Shortly after discovery of the attack, Bitstamp made an expensive but necessary decision to rebuild our entire trading platform and ancillary systems from the ground up, rather than trying to reboot our old system. We did this from a secure backup that was maintained (according to disaster recovery procedures) in a 'clean room' environment.”

The report added that Bitstamp “decided to deploy our distribution network using Amazon cloud infrastructure servers located in Europe” during that time.

Damage assessed

Bitstamp lost 18,866 BTC from its hot wallet, worth approximately $5,263,614 at a time when the price of bitcoin averaged $279.

Yet the damage went beyond the bitcoins in the hot wallet, the report explained, noting:

“Bitstamp has lost customers, including major clients engaged in providing merchant services in bitcoin, and has suffered significant damage to its reputation, which we are unable to quantify exactly at this point, but which we believe exceeds $2 million.”

Additional costs include $250,000 paid to the Stroz Friedberg team, $250,000 paid to developers to rebuild the platform and $150,000 in consulting and advisory fees. The costs, including those paid to Stroz Friedberg, "are continuing to accrue", according to the report.

In the wake of the attack, the exchange now utilizes multi-sig wallet access and has contracted Xapo to handle its cold wallet storage.

Despite the losses and the alleged reputational damage, the company framed the incident as a learning experience, concluding:

“This was a significant loss for Bitstamp, and it cast further doubt on the safety and integrity of the bitcoin ecosystem. However, it could have been much worse, and we are determined to use this as a learning tool, and as a basis for making improvements in our technology, security protocols, incident response planning and so forth.”

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to hack iTunes to turn any song into your iPhone ringtone

Six employees of Bitstamp were targeted in a weeks-long phishing attempt leading up to the theft of roughly $5m in bitcoin in January, according to an incident report said to be drafted internally by the bitcoin exchange.

The confidential document, posted to Reddit by a single-purpose account, offers an in-depth look into what is believed to be the inside story of the hack, which resulted in the loss of just under 19,000 BTC earlier this year. Since then, the company has offered scant details on what took place behind the scenes, citing confidentiality regarding the investigation into the lost funds.

The report’s findings are notable as they illustrate the risks facing bitcoin exchanges, including social engineering attacks in which personal information is used to trick victims into providing a means of access to sensitive materials.

In the case of Bitstamp, those behind the attack used Skype and email to communicate with employees and attempt to distribute files containing malware by appealing to their personal histories and interests. Bitstamp’s system became compromised after systems administrator Luka Kodric downloaded a file that he believed had been sent by a representative for an organization that was seeking his membership.

The report, attributed to Bitstamp general counsel George Frost, explained:

“On 11th December, as part of this offer, the attacker sent a number of attachments. One of these, UPE_application_form.doc, contained obfuscated malicious VBA script. When opened, this script ran automatically and pulled down a malicious file from IP address 185.31.209.145, thereby compromising the machine.”

Ultimately, the attackers were able to access two servers containing the wallet.dat file for Bitstamp’s hot wallet and the passphrase for that file.

The information contained in the report is said to be sourced from a third-party investigation conducted by digital forensics firm Stroz Friedberg, as well as from investigators working for the US Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and UK-based cybercrime authorities.

As of the report’s drafting, the investigation into the hack was still ongoing but an arrest was expected in the near future. The report alludes to an effort by investigators to create "a ‘honey trap’ to lure [the attacker] into the UK in order to make an arrest."

Bitstamp declined to comment on the authenticity of the report when reached. A representative for Stroz Friedberg was not immediately available for comment.

Extended phishing attempt

According to the report, the earliest phishing attempt took place on 4th November, when one of the attackers contacted Bitstamp chief technology officer Damian Merlak offering free tickets to a punk rock festival.

Chief operating officer Miha Grcar was contacted by Skype in mid-Novemer by someone posing as a reporter. In that exchange, the individual cited past articles written by Grcar when he himself was a reporter covering news in Greece.

The report notes:

“On 26th November, as part of this from within an offline file (such as a Word document). exchange, ivan.foreignpolicy attempted to send a word document of a recent article, ostensibly seeking comment from Mr Grcar. Mr Grcar declined to accept the document.”

Two days prior, Bitstamp support manager Anzej Simicak was also reached by way of Skype, and in that instance the attacker posed as someone seeking more information on RippleWise, a project for which Simicak acts as COO.

In early December, several more Bitstamp staff members were contacted, including Kodric, whose account was ultimately compromised. Employee Miha Hrast’s computer was then compromised after being messaged on Skype, though he did not have access privileges for the servers.

Server compromised

After Kodric’s computer was infiltrated, according to the report, additional malicious files were created between 17th and 22nd December. On 23rd December, Kodric’s account was used to log in to the server that held the wallet.dat file.

On 29th December, the attackers leveraged Kodric’s computer to access the servers containing the wallet.dat file and the wallet passphrase.

“We suspect that the attacker copied the bitcoin wallet file and passphrase at this stage, due to the correlation between the size of these files and the size of the data transfer seen on the logs,” the report notes. “Although the actual content of the transfers cannot be confirmed from the logs available.”

Less than a week later, the report continues, the wallet was emptied, noting:

“On 4th January, the attacker drained the Bitstamp wallet, as evidenced on the blockchain. Although the maximum content of this wallet was 5,000 bitcoins at any one time, the attacker was able to steal over 18,000 bitcoins throughout the day as further deposits were made by customers.”

Quick response

Bitstamp moved quickly to assess and mitigate the damage, according to report, issuing a company-wide alert and establishing an incident response team. The company became aware of the theft on the evening of 4th January, and after auditing the servers discovered the 29th December entry and the data transfer.

Stroz Friedberg began its investigation on 8th January, operating out of the company’s Slovenian office.

The report notes:

“Shortly after discovery of the attack, Bitstamp made an expensive but necessary decision to rebuild our entire trading platform and ancillary systems from the ground up, rather than trying to reboot our old system. We did this from a secure backup that was maintained (according to disaster recovery procedures) in a 'clean room' environment.”

The report added that Bitstamp “decided to deploy our distribution network using Amazon cloud infrastructure servers located in Europe” during that time.

Damage assessed

Bitstamp lost 18,866 BTC from its hot wallet, worth approximately $5,263,614 at a time when the price of bitcoin averaged $279.

Yet the damage went beyond the bitcoins in the hot wallet, the report explained, noting:

“Bitstamp has lost customers, including major clients engaged in providing merchant services in bitcoin, and has suffered significant damage to its reputation, which we are unable to quantify exactly at this point, but which we believe exceeds $2 million.”

Additional costs include $250,000 paid to the Stroz Friedberg team, $250,000 paid to developers to rebuild the platform and $150,000 in consulting and advisory fees. The costs, including those paid to Stroz Friedberg, "are continuing to accrue", according to the report.

In the wake of the attack, the exchange now utilizes multi-sig wallet access and has contracted Xapo to handle its cold wallet storage.

Despite the losses and the alleged reputational damage, the company framed the incident as a learning experience, concluding:

“This was a significant loss for Bitstamp, and it cast further doubt on the safety and integrity of the bitcoin ecosystem. However, it could have been much worse, and we are determined to use this as a learning tool, and as a basis for making improvements in our technology, security protocols, incident response planning and so forth.”

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How to hack iTunes to turn any song into your iPhone ringtone

At the beginning of 2015 billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk committed a substantial amount of money to Boston-based Future of Life Institute. The volunteer organization has since awarded $7 million in grants. The 37 winning projects focus on protecting humankind from what Musk considers the "biggest existential threat" to our existence - Artificial Intelligence.

The post Elon Musk is Researching Robot Overlords - The Biggest Existential Threat to Our Existence appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

Bitcoin price has fallen below the critical support level currently at $261 and 1624 CNY. Analysis looks at potential downside targets. This analysis is provided by xbt.social with a 3 hour delay. Read the full analysis here. Not a member? Join now and receive a $29 discount using the code CCN29. Bitcoin Price Analysis Time of analysis: 05h54 UTC Bitstamp 1-Hour Chart From the analysis pages of xbt.social, earlier today: Price is retesting the $261 / 1624 CNY level from below. Analysis stands as per yesterday's last update: Price should correct higher (perhaps to above the green 20MA) before heading […]

The post Bitcoin Price Declines Below Critical Support appeared first on CCN: Financial Bitcoin News.

A former DEA agent pleaded guilty Wednesday to money laundering, obstruction of justice and extortion for his actions during two years investigating the online drug marketplace Silk Road as an undercover agent.

One of the two government officials charged with some shady dealings during the investigation of Silk Road pleaded guilty today. Carl Force used to work for the DEA and during the course of his investigation was doing things that might even make the darknet blush.

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