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Showing posts with label Bitcoin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bitcoin. Show all posts

Tuesday, 30 July 2019

Crypto Is Part of Free Speech, and Free Speech Is Everything

Graham Smith 
Activist Post 

 On July 23, U.S. Attorney General William Barr gave a speech demanding big players in the tech industry work with government agencies in providing backdoor entry points for encrypted devices and software. Per his reasoning, certain devices and messaging services pose a safety threat by providing a secure, third-party-inaccessible area where crime can rapidly proliferate. He didn’t note that this “warrant-proof encryption” also protects journalists, researchers, and individuals in areas of political unrest living under corrupt governments. Secure encryption also protects and verifies the financial assets and transactions of cryptocurrency holders everywhere. If strings of code — ideas, in essence — are now being made illegal, it would appear that a brand new battle for humanity’s free expression is just beginning. 

Crypto Is Free Speech


Article 19 of the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Of course, governments worldwide, and the UN itself, do not abide by this proclamation, but that last point is still of critical importance. The reception, transmission, and search for information via any media “regardless of frontiers” is part of free speech. Crypto is a technology. An idea. And it’s not limited by geographical constraints or “frontiers.” It’s a means by which to impart, receive, and seek information. After all, a bitcoin transaction or encrypted message is, in essence, an expression of information. 

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Saturday, 11 May 2019

'Bitcoin is fool's gold': Peter Schiff weighs in on calls to replace gold with cryptocurrencies

RT 

The value of digital currencies cannot be on par with gold, veteran stock broker and CEO of Euro Pacific Capital, Peter Schiff, told RT's Keiser Report as they discussed the recent #DropGold campaign.

Last week, a New York-based crypto-asset investment firm Grayscale Investments (Grayscale), ran a TV commercial, showing people pulling shopping cart full of gold bars, trying to convince investors that bitcoin is "displacing gold" as we live in a "new financial era."

The "ridiculous" advertisement is just a farce, according to Schiff, who stressed that cryptocurrencies, and bitcoin in particular, have nothing in common with the precious metal and have "no intrinsic value" other than people willing to buy it. 


"Bitcoin tries to pretend to be gold, but I think it's fool gold," the broker said in an interview with Max Keiser. He explained that the most-valuable digital currency may have some of the monetary properties of gold, but none of the commodity properties.

"There is no value to store in bitcoin ... When you're storing bitcoin you're storing nothing," Schiff said. 


Read more (+ video)

Thursday, 7 February 2019

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology

Bruce Scheneier
wired.com

In his 2008 white paper that first proposed bitcoin, the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto concluded with: “We have proposed a system for electronic transactions without relying on trust.” He was referring to blockchain, the system behind bitcoin cryptocurrency. The circumvention of trust is a great promise, but it’s just not true. Yes, bitcoin eliminates certain trusted intermediaries that are inherent in other payment systems like credit cards. But you still have to trust bitcoin—and everything about it.

Much has been written about blockchains and how they displace, reshape, or eliminate trust. But when you analyze both blockchain and trust, you quickly realize that there is much more hype than value. Blockchain solutions are often much worse than what they replace.

First, a caveat. By blockchain, I mean something very specific: the data structures and protocols that make up a public blockchain. These have three essential elements. The first is a distributed (as in multiple copies) but centralized (as in there’s only one) ledger, which is a way of recording what happened and in what order. This ledger is public, meaning that anyone can read it, and immutable, meaning that no one can change what happened in the past.

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Sunday, 15 July 2018

Greek Court Rules To Extradite Alexander Vinnik, Accused Of Laundering $4 Billion In Bitcoin

Zero Hedge

A Greek court has ruled to extradite the alleged former operator of crypto exchange BTC-eAlexander Vinnik, to France, local news outlet CNN Greece reported Friday, July 13.

The 39-year old Russian national Vinnik, also known colloquially as “Mr. Bitcoin,” was indicted by U.S. authorities on charges of fraud and money laundering last year, reportedly involving up to $4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC).

Vinnik’s Greek lawyer Ilias Spyrliadis confirmed to Russian news agency TASS that “the court has granted France’s request for Vinnik’s extradition.” Spyrliadis also revealed that he is planning to appeal against the court’s decision in the Greek Supreme Court.

According to CNN Greece, Vinnik himself challenged the decision of the Greek court on extradition to France, denying the allegations of French authorities, who issued a warrant, in which the alleged BTC-e owner was accused of “defraud[ing] over 100 people in six French cities between 2016 and 2018.”

Vinnik responded that he was "transferring e-money through a platform," considering it as "legitimate personal transactions.”




Thursday, 24 May 2018

Bitcoin miners are using as much energy as Ireland - study

RT

The process of mining new bitcoin is now so intensive that computers carrying out the process are using nearly as much electricity as the entire country of Ireland. 
A new study by economist Alex de Vries estimates that bitcoin mining consumes at least 2.55 gigawatts of electricity and, by the end of the year, that will have risen to 7.67 gigawatts – as much as Austria consumes in the same period.

Mining the cryptocurrency involves computers solving complex mathematical problems. As the amount of bitcoin left to mine grows smaller and smaller, the problems become increasingly complex, meaning they require an even greater amount of computing power.

"Half a Million Play-stations"

Due to the secretive nature of mining, the research is based on speculative figures. The cryptocurrency’s network is estimated to have around 10,000 connected nodes, but a single node in the network can represent either one or many machines.

“A hashrate of 14 terahashes per second can either come from a single Antminer S9 running on just 1,372 watts, or more than half a million PlayStation 3 devices running on 40 megawatts,” the research says.

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Tuesday, 21 February 2017

Europe Says It Wants to Confiscate Money, Precious Metals, Crypto Currency and Prepaid Cards to Fight Terrorism

Anon HQ

 


The proposal wants to monitor and tighten the control over electronic crypto and electronic currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin, along with debit and credit cards in the EU, and is applicable to all those who travel. 
 
The European Commission wants to tighten its control over paper money, metals such as gold and silver, and other precious elements that are transferred into the European Union. Their reasoning is to monitor the funding, as it will lessen the funding for belligerent attacks in the European Union.

The Commissions’ decision was based on the Marketplace attack that took place last Christmas in Germany, where people were killed as a truck full of explosives drove into the crowded place.

The new proposal will give power to customs officials in the European Union nations, allowing them to check cash amounts at random, and check credit and debit statements that are sent using postal services. Customs in these states will also have the right to take away cash, precious metals or anything of value that is being carried by people who fit the profile when entering the European Union.

As we all know, if anyone is carrying more than 10,000 Euros in cash while travelling must be declared at customs when entering the European Union; the new rules will permit customs officers to confiscate the money – even if it is fewer than 10,000 Euros – if they suspect someone of having a criminal past or if the money is for criminal activity.

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Thursday, 21 July 2016

Bank of England Urge Central Banks to Create Their Own Digital Currencies

EPJ

 

In a research paper published on Monday, John Barrdear and Michael Kumhof, economists at the Bank of England, call for central banks to issue their own digital currencies, along the line of Bitcoin.

They based their advocacy on the idea that “reductions in real interest rates, distortionary taxes, and monetary transaction costs” would boost the economy of the US, for example, by, get this, a permanent 3%.

Part of their argument is based on the view that central bankers using digital currency would have a more effective tool to tame financial booms and busts.

This flies in the view of Austrian school business cycle theory, which views the actual creation by a central bank of money (and thereby credit) as the epicenter of the problem.

A digital currency that could be expanded and contracted by a central bank does nothing to eliminate the misallocations and potential threat of raging price inflation that occur from Federal Reserve money supply manipulations.

What a digital currency would do is make it easier for government to track everyone's transactions. Thus. expanding the surveillance state.

Thursday, 19 February 2015

Data black market: New free platform lets whistleblowers sell secrets for Bitcoins

RT

Whistleblowers have got a new place to leak sensitive data anonymously and even get money for it. DarkLeaks, the free platform for sharing secrets where sellers and buyers never meet, makes it possible for users to legally avoid the long arm of the law.

"There is no identity, no central operator and no interaction between leaker and buyers," the developers’ statement says. 

The DarkLeaks service is free software, which can be downloaded from the Internet together with its source code, and where all operations with files take place. 

The service uses the technology developed for secure Bitcoin payments, where users can make transactions directly without needing an intermediary. 

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Monday, 18 August 2014

Bitcoin Price Collapse

EPJ 

The price of Bitcoin is down 9.15% this morning and is trading at $477.88. There has been no news development behind the collapse, though it does appear there is at least one major seller in the market.  

In the last week there have been  sell orders of more than 1000 bitcoins at a time pushing the Bitcoin price downwards, according to CryptoCoinNews.  

As recently as August 10, Bitcoin traded at $590, that's a 20% drop over the last 8 days. The all time high for Bitcoin was around $1,220.00. The current price is decline of  60.8% from that peak.
 
Over time, I expect a further collapse in the e-currency. The number of people interested in Bitcoin has likely peaked. Peak buying has likely been exhausted. Technical upticks will occur from time to time that will suck in dumb money (It happens in any collapsing asset), but the major trend will be down. 

Bitcoin is not a libertarian currency and it is not a good investment. 

There was a fun trade in Bitcoin, but that was it. In the EPJ Daily Alert, I advised a buy at aprox. $40 and a sell at aprox. $700. Now, I woudn't go near the thing, even for a short-term trade.

Thursday, 24 July 2014

New York State Wants To Heavily Regulate Bitcoin Trading

MintPress News 

The proposal would establish a mandatory “BitLicense” for any company involved with the buying, selling, mining or trading of cryptocurrencies.

In a move that has upset many in the bitcoin community, New York has become the first state to issue guidelines for the regulation of the trade and storage of bitcoins and other virtual currencies. With New York City being the hub of the nation’s financial network, state regulators introduced the new rules in an attempt to introduce safeguards to cryptocurrencies — which have received scrutiny recently as several states have moved to remove restrictions on virtual currency use or to clarify existing virtual currency laws.

The proposal introduced Thursday by the New York State Department of Financial Services would establish a mandatory “BitLicense” for any company involved with the buying, selling, mining or trading of cryptocurrencies. Licensed firms would be required to learn the names of all cryptocurrency customers they accrue; maintain a reserve of cryptocurrency funds equal to 100 percent of all deposits — similar to cushioning requirements for banks; carry bonds to protect their customers from theft or collapse; and submit to security audits.


“We have sought to strike an appropriate balance that helps protect consumers and root out illegal activity — without stifling beneficial innovation,” said Benjamin Lawsky, New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services. “Setting up common sense rules of the road is vital to the long-term future of the virtual currency industry, as well as the safety and soundness of customer assets.”


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Friday, 6 June 2014

The Hubristic Elites Who Want to Eliminate Cash

Comment: Yes, at the time the writer below laughed at such a proposition. Yet so called "conspiracy theorists" had been saying this for many years and drawing the public's attention to many other "theories" which have since proven to be fact. 

The idea that the Elite have been wanting to phase out paper money has been  around for decades. Each phase of that wish has been documented and analysed. Now here we are. These article are simply regurgitating what has been said a thousand times before by those paying far greater attention. However, new generations need new eyes to see before they become glazed over by the technocratic dream of mass apathy and intellectual servitude.

Since the meme of a cashless society is now being pushed very hard which means the economic meltdown is likely very soon indeed. Say, next April 2015? 

----------------------------------

The Atlantic 

While investigating Bitcoin, Antonis Polemitis once poked fun at coverage of the currency by imagining how the media would react to the introduction of cash. He titled his parody, "Bizarre Shadowy Paper-Based Payment System Being Rolled Out Worldwide." Cash has been dubbed "bills" among "the shadowy community of anti-banking libertarians who have been the primary users of cash to date," the article explains, and "though hard to imagine, cash operates with no consumer protection at all. If your ‘bills’ are stolen or lost, they are gone forever."

A later section of the article is titled, "Perfect for Criminals":

The launch of cash has provoked a reaction from law-enforcement agencies worldwide that universally condemned the development. “Cash is a 100% anonymous and untraceable payments technology. It is like a weapon of mass destruction launched against law enforcement,” said Mike Smith, the recently confirmed FBI Director. “It is the perfect payment mechanism for criminals, drug cartels, terrorists, prostitution rings and money launderers. We don’t know how we will be able to combat such a technology and fully expect that a new generation of super-criminals will emerge, working in the shadows of a world where they can conduct their illicit affairs without leaving a trace.”
The Banking Superintendent of New York State is quoted too: "I can’t think of any reason that a law-abiding individual would want to use cash," he declared. "At a bare minimum, we believe there should be a licensing procedure for individuals or businesses that plan to use cash, a ‘Cash-License’ as it were. This license will limit ‘cash’ to trust-worthy individuals who keep detailed auditable records of all their cash transactions in order to keep New York safe from criminals.” 

At the time, I laughed.

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Saturday, 31 May 2014

Tens of thousands of Belgian savers see money disappear from their bank.


Translation: " Because of a new taxation on investment funds the government introduced recently, tens of thousands Savers saw money dissapear from their bank accounts yesterday. Years ago, they bought a certain type of investment fund because the capital gains on this type of funds were taxfree. But the government changed this rule and introduced a tax on these funds, with retrospective effect to 1 juli 2008, last summer. Only now, BNP paribas has programmed their computers to make the automatic collection of these taxes possible. Test-aankoop(magazine that safeguards & reviews consumer rights) already got hundreds of complaints." 

http://imgur.com/LfF85Nr

Summary of important points:
  • Customers of BNP Paribal Fortis buy the "Fortis B FIX 160 Equity" for 1000 euro in 2005. The fund only contains Belgian stocks, on which capital gains are taxfree at that time.
  • During the crisis, the fund drops to 815 euro a piece.
  • On the expiration date, the fund is worth 1004 euro.
  • The Belgian Government changes the rules and says holders of the funds made a capital gain of 189 euro between 2008 and 2013, taxing it for €30 a piece.
  • The tax is automatically subtracted from the bank accounts of customers, without their consent.
  • People think it is ridiculous they have to pay tax on a gain they never made.

Tuesday, 13 May 2014

The EyeOpener Report - How to Defund the System: Bitcoin vs. the Central Banksters

Boiling Frogs Post/James Corbett

In recent years, mathematicians, cryptologists, computer programmers and others have been working quietly on the problem of how to create a system of exchange that bypasses the central banks and allows for instantaneous, pseudonymous, free transactions between individuals anywhere on the globe. Their answer: Cryptocurrency, with its most well-known representative, Bitcoin.

A currency as loved and hated as it is misunderstood by the public and misrepresented in the press, Bitcoin has created passionate advocates and powerful enemies as it continues to maintain a price that many believed impossible. To gain perspective on the Bitcoin phenomenon and what it really represents, last week I had the chance to talk to Roger Ver, an entrepreneur and Bitcoin early adopter who travels the world spreading the message about Bitcoin and freedom. This is our conversation for Boiling Frogs Post EyeOpener Video Report this week.



Thursday, 8 May 2014

US Defense Dept. analyzing Bitcoin as potential terrorism threat

RT 

The US Defense Department is conducting a counterterrorism program investigation of virtual currencies like Bitcoin and other new technologies, including smartphones and social media, to better understand if they pose security threats.
 
Run by the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO), a division of the Pentagon that analyzes terrorism and irregular warfare capabilities, the program recently ended its open call for vendors that could help the US military understand the technologies and any threats they could potentially pose, the International Business Times reported

In an unclassified memo first published by Bitcoin Magazine, the CTTSO called for various solicitations for agency projects, including one for “innovative...solutions to develop and/or enhance new concepts and constructs for understanding the role of virtual currencies” in financing threats to the US. 

“The introduction of virtual currency will likely shape threat finance by increasing the opaqueness, transactional velocity, and overall efficiencies of terrorist attacks,” the memo stated. 

The anonymity offered by virtual currencies is a top point of concern for law enforcement as it aids in the formation of illicit operations like Silk Road, a digital black market thought to be closed down in October but still popular despite its founders arrest. 

Ross Ulbricht was arrested in October, 2013, and indicted in February. Prosecution alleges he was operating Silk Road, a clandestine website that allowed its users to buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously. The site could only be accessed through the Tor anonymizing service and the deals were made using a bitcoin-based payment system, which also enabled users to conceal their identities. 

In January, federal charges were made public against Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem, the CEO of the bitcoin exchange service BitInstant. They have been accused of operating a bitcoin exchange business in connection with the ongoing investigation involving Silk Road. 

And in February, Mt. Gox, a top bitcoin exchange, suddenly filed for bankruptcy, claiming that hundreds of millions of bitcoins were stolen. 

The US Treasury Department said in March that, after an investigation, it had found no evidence of “widespread” use of digital currency to bankroll terrorism. 

Accordingly, the Pentagon’s CTTSO has called for research into the “anonymizing software” and “Dark Web,” or corners of the internet not indexed on normal search engines. 

The agency views anonymous networks like TOR as a convenient path to traffic drugs, humans, and weapons of all sorts. The CTTSO’s mission against potential threats also demands “methods and means to systematically discern and display ‘precursors of instability’ in the Dark Web.”
 
The CTTSO is also researching Android, Motorola, social media, and virtual reality for their potential to be used in terrorism campaigns, the International Business Times noted. 

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Bitcoin plunges after marketplace indefinitely halts withdrawals


Reuters

The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months on Monday after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt. Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected "unusual activity."

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt. Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as $500 early on Monday, down more than 27 percent from Friday’s final price of $692, according to the Mt. Gox website. It last traded at $595.74, off nearly 14 percent from Friday.

"This technical issue is of a much larger intensity than we’ve seen in the past," said Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Societe Generale in New York. "The market may be realizing that there are issues which are specific to these forms of currencies."

The bitcoin in recent months started to gain wider acceptance, with Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings basketball team both saying they would begin to accept the currency.

More recently, the digital currency has drawn increased scrutiny. New York state’s top bank regulator in late January revealed plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year.

TRANSACTIONS COULD BE ALTERED

The bitcoin price started falling fast on Friday when Mt. Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues.

In an updated statement on Monday, Mt. Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it "has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely."

Mt. Gox said a "bug in the bitcoin software" could allow transaction details to be altered.

In effect, someone on the network could alter transaction details to make it appear a transfer of bitcoins from one digital wallet to another had not occurred when in fact it had. This might cause the transfer to be repeated.

A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency’s users.

Mt. Gox said the issue was not limited to the exchange and "affects all transactions where bitcoins are being sent to a third party." It said the withdrawal suspension would be in effect until the issue has been resolved.

CoinDesk, which launched the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index in September, removed Mt. Gox from its index Monday, citing its "persistent failure to meet the index’s standards for inclusion."

"These recent withdrawal restrictions are just the latest in a series of issues which have made Mt. Gox’s inclusion in the BPI problematic," CoinDesk said.

On CoinDesk’s bitcoin index, the bitcoin price was lower but not by nearly as much as on the Mt. Gox platform. The CoinDesk index showed bitcoin at $667.79 on late Monday afternoon, down about 5 percent from Friday’s close of $703.57. Its low for the day was around $540 versus $500 on Mt. Gox.

On both platforms, the price was still around the lowest since late December. The price had topped $1,000 as recently as late January.

"With the volatility in the currency being as much as it is, it’s going to take some time before we get enough of a comfort level from investors and merchants to enable it to be used ubiquitously," said Darrin Peller, managing director at Barclays in New York.

The arrest of a prominent bitcoin advocate just over two weeks ago threw a spotlight on the currency. Charlie Shrem, 24, operator of the Bitinstant bitcoin exchange company, was charged by U.S. prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. The following day Shrem resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group.



Monday, 27 January 2014

Bitcoin exchange operators arrested in connection with Silk Road case

RT

Federal charges were made public early Monday against two men accused of operating a bitcoin exchange business in connection with the ongoing investigation involving the Silk Road online marketplace.

The United States Justice Department published a statement on their website on Monday morning confirming that the two men, Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem, had been arrested within hours of each other and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The charges carry a maximum of 25 years in prison. 

“As alleged, Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem schemed to sell over $1 million in bitcoins to criminals bent on trafficking narcotics on the dark web drug site, Silk Road,” Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in Monday's statement. “Truly innovative business models don’t need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act. We will aggressively pursue those who would coopt new forms of currency for illicit purposes.”
 
Shrem, the CEO of the bitcoin exchange service BitInstant, was also charged with one count of willful failure to file a suspicious activity report, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. 

Only last month, Shrem told reporters at the website Vocative they had been forced to take his website offline more than once recently over concerns about dealing in the still infant digital cryptocurrency.
”If we want to exist 20 years from now, we want to make sure all of our ducks are in a row,” he said in December. “And right now, they’re not.”
 
Federal prosecutors apparently couldn't agree more. While Shrem's site BitInstant served as an exchange place for people who wanted to trade in their cryptocurrency for fiat money, feds say both defendants did much more than that. 


“Hiding behind their computers, both defendants are charged with knowingly contributing to and facilitating anonymous drug sales, earning substantial profits along the way. Drug law enforcement's job is to investigate and identify those who abet the illicit drug trade at all levels of production and distribution including those lining their own pockets by feigning ignorance of any wrong doing and turning a blind eye.”
 
Shrem was arrested on Sunday at John F Kennedy International Airport near New York City, and Faiella was brought into custody by police officers who entered his Cape Coral, Florida home early on Monday. Both men are expected to be tried separately. 

Ross Ulricht, a California man accused of operating the Silk Road website, has been in policy custody since being arrested last year.

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Meet The 'Assassination Market' Creator Who's Crowdfunding Murder With Bitcoins

Comment: Ah...the diversity that is bitcoin.

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Forbes.com

 As Bitcoin becomes an increasingly popular form of digital cash, the cryptocurrency is being accepted in exchange for everything from socks to sushi to heroin. If one anarchist has his way, it’ll soon be used to buy murder, too.

Last month I received an encrypted email from someone calling himself by the pseudonym Kuwabatake Sanjuro, who pointed me towards his recent creation: The website Assassination Market, a crowdfunding service that lets anyone anonymously contribute bitcoins towards a bounty on the head of any government official–a kind of Kickstarter for political assassinations. According to Assassination Market’s rules, if someone on its hit list is killed–and yes, Sanjuro hopes that many targets will be–any hitman who can prove he or she was responsible receives the collected funds.

For now, the site’s rewards are small but not insignificant. In the four months that Assassination Market has been online, six targets have been submitted by users, and bounties have been collected ranging from ten bitcoins for the murder of NSA director Keith Alexander and 40 bitcoins for the assassination of President Barack Obama to 124.14 bitcoins–the largest current bounty on the site–targeting Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and public enemy number one for many of Bitcoin’s anti-banking-system users. At Bitcoin’s current rapidly rising exchanges rate, that’s nearly $75,000 for Bernanke’s would-be killer.

Read more


Thursday, 5 December 2013

Bitcoin Tumbles After China Central Bank Bans Financial Companies From Using Digital Currency

Zero Hedge

As we said back in March, when Bitcoin's parabolic rise first started, it was only a matter of time before first one, then all central banks take on Bitcoin for the simple fact that it present too great a threat to the fiat system. Sure enough, on the chart below of BTC China it is quite clear just at what point overnight the People's Bank of China announced that Bitcoin is simply a virtual commodity and "isn't a currency with any real meaning" (paraphrasing Alan Greenspan), and that it officially bans financial companies from Bitcoin transactions.
 


However, the reason why Chinese Bitcoin didn't tumble all the way to zero is because the PBOC added a loophole that the public is free to participate in internet transactions provided they bear their own risks.

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