Coin News

Boost VC CEO Adam Draper discusses his incubator's recent decision to begin using the term "blockchain" in place of "bitcoin".

Coinprism, the blockchain technology company that developed the Open Assets standard “colored coins” that is now used by the likes of NASDAQ and Overstock has released Openchain, an open source distributed ledger targeting financial institutions. Openchain, unlike bitcoin is based on a central, distributed ledger that will allow any enterprise user, company or an institution to use their own version of the chain. This functionality helps with lowering costs, reducing transaction times and Openchain users can also use the chain to interconnect with each other. Instead of transactions being validated by anonymous users, as in the case of bitcoin, Openchain […]

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Since October 2014, the Swedish National Bank, also known as Riksbank has cut its interest rates below zero. That means that for well over a year the people of Sweden have been paying the banks to keep their accounts and credit cards accessible.

According to a study published by a group of industrial technologists led by Niklas Arvidsson at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, banks and economists are pushing a “cashless society” due to the rapid growth of digital transactions, secure online medium of payments and the sudden decay of cash.

Arvidsson and his team of researchers stated that there are around 80 billion Swedish krona in regular circulation (country’s wallets and cash registers), a significant decay of cash since 2009.

“Cash is still an important means of payment in many countries’ markets, but that no longer applies here in Sweden. Our use of cash is small and it’s decreasing rapidly,” said Arvidsson.

Six years ago, the total circulation of cash in the entire country recorded 106 billion krona, around 40 percent to 50 percent more than today’s “regular cash circulation.”

"And out of that amount, only somewhere between 40 and 60 percent is actually in regular circulation," Arvidsson continued. He further explained that rest of the money is lost in bank deposit boxes or traded in the black markets of Sweden.

As a result, a growing number of economists and banks including the Swedish Central bank are trying to create a completely cash-free society, wherein all transactions and payments are settled digitally, using various means of payments and financial services.

“Walking the streets of Sweden's second city, Gothenburg, it's almost impossible to find a shop that doesn't accept bank cards for payment, and most locals tend to carry no coins or notes on their person. Many also make use of an app called Swish, a collaboration between Swedish and Danish banks that permits fast, simple money transfers on smartphones,” said Duncan Geere of techradar.

Arvidsson also claimed that some bank branches refuse to accept cash and, if they do, the banks require a detailed report of information and evidences that could prove the origin of the cash. For example, if the cash was acquired in a bitcoin exchange by selling small amount of BTC in a series of transactions, customers may have to provide each transaction history and its threads to validate the nature of the transactions.

The majority of well-established financial institutions are worried about involvement in money laundering and fraud, especially for digital currencies like bitcoin which has been involved in various court cases and scams like Josh Garza’s Paycoin and GAW Miners.

"At the offices which do handle banknotes and coins, the customer must explain where the cash comes from, according to the regulations aimed at money laundering and terrorist financing," explained Arvidsson. Bank staff are required to file police reports in response to suspicious cash transactions.

At this point in time, the central bank and self-titled economists are eagerly searching for alternative payment methods that could potentially replace cash and transform Sweden into a cash-free economy and society.

Recently, Sweden’s largest stock exchange Nasdaq approved XBT Provider AB to launch industry-grade bitcoin tracker on the Nasdaq stock exchange, which is designed to mirror the price of U.S. dollars per bitcoin.

The post Sweden: The Road Toward a Cashless Society appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

GameCredits is revolutionizing the in-game currency industry. Thanks to the startups' advanced API, in-game transactions take place instantly through a secure online wallet platform. Thanks to GameCredits, developers and gamers now have a seamless method of transacting value through gaming platforms. The secure platform has already launched formidable games, such as Ring 13: Curse of Nakamoto (Multiplayer Fighting Game), Turbocharged (Multiplayer Racing Game), and EON: The Omega Event (Multiplayer 4X Space Game). Their website is available in English, German and Dutch. GameCredits also functions as a tradable commodity with the company’s Web Wallet or personal desktop client. GameCredits is based […]

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A court decision on whether bitcoin exchanges in Europe will be required to pay value-added tax (VAT) on user fees is set to be handed down Thursday.

The quiet, behind-the-scenes juggernaut in bitcoin mining, Bi Wang (BW), is announcing the release of its 14nm chip that the company believes is at the cutting edge of bitcoin mining equipment.

In a Bitcoin Magazine exclusive [https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/the-unknown-giant-a-first-look-inside-bw-one-of-china-s-oldest-and-largest-miners-1444675310] , BW was introduced to the community. Now it wants impact that same community.

Along with the announcement of its bitcoin chip, the company has announced that it will be releasing a bitcoin miner for consumers that will launch in Winter 2016.

“The miners are now available for pre-order at a price of 0.87 BTC with a minimum order of 333 miners which is 1 petahash,” Virgilio Lizardo Jr., Head of International at Bitbank told Bitcoin Magazine in an exclusive interview. “This price will be available until November 11, 2015. This winter, the miners will be available with no minimum order required; the price at this time has not been decided yet.”

The revelation that BW would be offering its miners to the general population comes at a time when many other mining companies are bringing their products in-house to use for their own mining initiatives.

According to BW, each 14nm chip in the miner will be able to attain anywhere from 34.6-63GH/s. The power consumption is 18W based on a voltage of 0.59V to 0.76V. This efficiency comes on the back of nearly a year of research and development. Lizardo Jr. explained that the team spent nine months coming up with the chip.

Lizardo Jr. explained that the company’s plans are to use the chips in two ways. The first is in the above described bitcoin miner. The second will be use by its own mining farm.

“BW will produce the amount needed [in the first batch] to reach our goal of 48P [petahashes] per month at our newest mining farm currently under construction,” he said.

An additional 48 petahashes/second of computational power would account for nearly 10 percent of the current mining power available.

In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine when Bitmain announced the launch of its Antminer S7, Jacob Smith, head of North America, said, “It’s an unfortunate situation that we’re the only big ASIC manufacturer selling directly to consumers right now; we’d love to see more competition in this space and for the miners themselves to have more options available.”

If BW has anything to say about it, it appears that the competition is here.

Jacob Donnelly is a full-time product manager and freelance journalist. He writes about Bitcoin at Bitcoin Magazine and runs a weekly newsletter at CryptoBrief.com.

The post BW to Launch 14nm Chip and Miner for General Population appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is set to sentence 46-year-old Silk Road investigator Carl Mark Force IV this Monday.

It seems certain that the corrupt DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) agent will need to spend time behind bars. After having been arrested in March, he pleaded guilty to money laundering, obstruction of justice and extortion earlier this summer. Last week, prosecutors revealed they seek to lock the former law enforcement officer up for seven years, which they say is the maximum penalty within the applicable sentencing guidelines.

In a 10-page sentencing memorandum, the prosecution explains why only a high-end sentence would be appropriate for Force.

Reason #1: Force betrayed public trust.

The most important reason the prosecutors want to go hard on Force is that they believe the corrupt agent abused the public trust and tarnished the reputation of law enforcement in the process. The memorandum, which opens with a translated Latin maxim (“Corruption of the best is the worst”), argues that Force brutely violated the mandate given to him. A serious crime requiring serious sentencing, the prosecutors contend, not in the least because it reflects bad on all government officials.

According to the prosecution:

In providing the defendant with a gun and a badge, the government entrusted him to act in a manner consistent with standards becoming a sworn law enforcement officer, namely to protect and serve the public. Conduct like Force’s undermines public confidence in law enforcement and threatens the credibility of the entire criminal justice system. Unfortunately, it does not take more than one or two corrupt federal agents to overshadow the consistent and heroic work done by 99.9% of their colleagues. The national media doesn’t publish articles about the agents who are the first responders in active shooter incidents, who risk their lives in undercover capacities, who respond to live hostage situations,who root out financial fraud and uncover terrorist plots – they publish articles about the corrupt behavior of people like Carl Force and [corrupt U.S. Secret Service agent] Shaun Bridges. Simply put, when the badge is tarnished it impacts every single law enforcement officer who wears it and every citizen who relies on it for protection.

Reason #2: Force's conduct was long-lasting and consistent.

The second reason prosecutors are aiming for a maximum penalty within the applicable sentencing guidelines is that Force's criminal conduct was not a one-off, but a persistent behavioral pattern. Indeed, the corrupt agent's story can only be described as a long-lasting, bizarre, and incredible amassment of pathological disregard of the law. It's not without reason that Twentieth Century Fox recently bought the movie rights to his Silk Road investigation...

According to the sentencing memorandum:

This Court comes across plenty of defendants who have committed a single – yet significant – error in judgment who might deserve a break when it comes time for sentencing. This is not one of those defendants. His crimes do not represent a “one-off” where he experienced a momentary lapse of judgment. Instead, Force committed crimes over the course of many months (if not years) during which he had time to reflect on what he was doing over and over again. Yet instead of ceasing his misconduct after one incident, he continued with impunity until he was caught. His was an extremely calculated effort, designed to avoid detection for as long as possible, ironically using the very skills (e.g. encryption, Tor, etc.) that he learned on the job and on the public’s dime.

Reason #3: Force jeopardized the Silk Road investigation.

The third reason why prosecutors are not going easy on Force is that he greatly jeopardized the Silk Road investigation with his misconduct. Force was part of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which was tasked to uncover the digital black market and arrest its operator Ross Ulbricht, AKA Dread Pirate Roberts. But by breaking all protocol, Force could have ruined a years-long project, spanning four government agencies (the Internal Revenue Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and his own Drug Enforcement Agency).

Indeed, after the news of Force's arrest broke, Ulbricht's lawyer contended that his client was denied a fair trial. Which, by that time, had already ended, of course, with Ulbricht found guilty.

In Force's sentencing memorandum, the prosecutors write:

Given Force’s role as the undercover agent on that case in communication with Ulbricht, it would have been obvious to Force as a longtime federal agent that he would be a key, if not the key, witness for the government in any future prosecution in Maryland. In stealing money, creating unauthorized personas and having encrypted ultra vires communications, Force acted with reckless disregard for the potential for his actions to jeopardize the very case he was tasked with building. Rather than working to take down the Silk Road – what he was being paid with taxpayer dollars to do – Force lined his own pockets.

Reason #4: A lengthy sentence should serve as a warning to would-be corrupt agents.

The fourth and final reason prosecutors believe Force should be locked up for seven years is that such a sentence would send a signal to his colleagues – both at the DEA and at other government agencies – as well as the public.

The prosecutors contend that Force's prison sentence should act as a deterrence for would-be corrupt officials. The sentencing memorandum reads:

The Court should send a message that this kind of conduct will be met with a harsh penalty in the form of a high-end prison sentence. A message of leniency communicates to other potentially corrupt government officials that the possibility of prison might be worth the risk in order to profit several hundred thousands or millions of dollars.

And finally, the prosecution believes that a significant prison sentence should show the American public that the criminal justice system works. Not just against criminals among the population, but also against criminals within the government itself.

The prosecution argues:

At the time of his criminal activity, the defendant’s legitimate work with the DEA was busting drug dealers, arresting them and charging them with drug crimes that carry significant custody time. In the midst of all of this he was stealing money and property from others. In his off-time, he was investing the proceeds of that criminal activity in a business that he worked for on the side, without approval, and striking movie deals and book deals with a Hollywood studio. It is critical that people understand and believe that when a law enforcement agent gets caught doing these kinds of things, he will be dealt with severely by the system of which he was once a part.

Thanks to CoinDesk for publishing the sentencing memorandum.

The post The Case Against Carl Force, or Why Prosecutors Seek Seven Years Imprisonment for a Corrupt Silk Road Investigator appeared first on Bitcoin Magazine.

Last week's rally had been fast and furious, with a lot of burning rubber and little chart distance. As quickly as it had completed the last push toward $300, it gave up almost half of the progress in a sell-off. The bulls have cooled down somewhat and are now looking for shelter further down the hill. 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: 15h42 UTC BTC-China 1-Hour Chart From the analysis […]

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You’re a hacker, and you have two targets in mind. One is the website of a large multinational company. The other is the website of a small law firm. The goal is a Denial of Service attack shutting down the website and not turning it back on until you’re paid a ransom in bitcoins, a form of electronic currency. You chose the large company, right?

Liz Parrish, CEO of biotech startup BioViva, says she underwent a gene therapy at an undisclosed location overseas last month, a first step in what she says is a plan to develop treatments for ravages of old age like Alzheimer’s and muscle loss, MIT Technology Review reports.

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Bitcoin Press Release: NextBank is the first bank in the world that believes in the bitcoin and adapts it to our daily lives. The mission of this venture is to provide advanced banking services for cryptocurrency users. NextBank makes no difference between the fiat and crypto currencies. Cryptocurrencies are legal NextBank believes in a great future of Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency revolution. We are offering a new banking approach for bitcoin private and business users. As you all know, the word “bitcoin” has a magical influence on bank managers both inside and outside of the EU. Unfortunately, operations using the […]

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Bitcoin Press Release: Privately Regulated Public Blockchain Achieves Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorist Financing and Anti-Theft Goals The appearance of Bitcoin and its associated block-chain technology has gained tremendous interest in the development of decentralized, but secure, money banking and transaction systems. Bitcoin is gaining recognition all over the world as a convenient financial tool for daily payment and also for transferring money across the national borders. However, there is serious concern about Bitcoin’s use for criminal exploits and the financing of terrorist activities. For example, recently Australian’s biggest banks have closed bank accounts of at least 17 Australian Bitcoin companies. One […]

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Some are fond of the phrase, “gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math.” While it's true that the house makes a profit, and therefore “always wins,” the fact is that now and then someone has to win or else people won't play anymore. There are many ways to gamble, from scratch-off and lottery tickets to slot machines and skill-based games like poker, as well as betting on sports events. The latter games aren't legal everywhere, with the local governments preferring to have an exclusive monopoly over gambling. Although Illinois has some legal casinos, they are dwarfed […]

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Bitcoin startup 21 has applied for a patent for mining circuitry that “may be used to mine digital currency such as bitcoins,” with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The submission, originally filed in April last year by the startup that recently released a $400 bitcoin computer, was published as a submission by the USPTO on October 15, 2015. The filing lists the following names as inventors of the digital currency mining circuitry: Matthew Pauker, co-founder and now chairman (CEO at the time of application) Nigel Drego, co-founder, and chief architect Veerbhan Kheterpal, co-founder, and president Daniel Fir, co-founder […]

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21 Inc, the best-funded company in bitcoin, has filed a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating the actions of some banks for closing accounts of various bitcoin businesses.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is investigating why some Australian banks are closing bitcoin business bank accounts, according to the Australian Financial Review. The Australian Financial Review previously reported that 17 bitcoin companies in Australia received letters from banks saying they planned to close their accounts. Nationals Senator Matthew Canavan asked the ACCC to investigate the matter. Rod Sims, chairman of ACCC, said banks have been asked to explain their actions. He said the commission is also asking the banks what contact they had with each other over these actions. Sims said he hoped to find out why […]

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Mixed martial arts welterweight Jon Fitch is the first MMA fighter to be fully paid in bitcoin, according to Inverse.com, a culture and technology news site. As an international MMA competitor, he claims he gets paid easier and faster with bitcoin. Fitch loves cryptocurrency and he thinks it is bringing about a new form of commerce he calls “techno-feudalism.” A former top welterweight contender for Ultimate Fighting Championship, Fitch said a lot of MMA fighters have difficulty with payment because mixed martial arts is an international sport. It can take weeks to get paid. This is problematic because MMA fighters have a […]

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