Last March, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sort comment regarding potential disclosures to be used on the packaging of prepaid cards such as gift cards and prepaid debit cards. The CFPB have now released their proposed disclosures which, after a brief period of comment, they hope to standardise. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: November 2014
NASAA: Top Investor Threats
The North American Securities Administrators Association today released an article titled "Top Investor Threats" in which they state there is an emerging threat of "unscrupulous promoters" illegally offering securities tied to Bitcoin. Continue reading
Imperial College Hosts Bitcoin Technology Competition for Students
The Business School of Imperial College in London is hosting a competition for students to compete on developing "new forms of Bitcoin technology." The projects will count as course credit and cash awards of up to £3,000 are available, with grants up to £500 available for equipment expenses. The Imperial College press release seems to emphasize the idea of "Blockchain Technology" rather than Bitcoin itself, but it remains to be seen what form the actual student projects will take.
ISIS Introduces Coins
There are reports that the Islamic State has announced the introduction of a new trimetal monetary system, which they claim is based on the ancient dinar. The original dinar of course was a rebadging of the Byzantine δηνάριον by early Islamic rulers. The new ISIS currency consists of seven coins of which two are gold, three are silver, and two are copper. According to the Brookings Institute the coins are inscribed with a version of the message "The Islamic State: A Caliphate in Accordance with the Prophetic Method" reflecting the Islamic State's declaration of a Caliphate back in June. Continue reading
David Woo Of Bank Of America Merrill Lynch: Don't Invest In Bitcoin
In a continued attempt to compartmentalise Bitcoin, David Woo, the global rates head at Bank of America Merrill Lynch appeared on an episode of "Bloomberg Surveillance" where he espoused the use of Bitcoin the payment system while writing off bitcoin the unit of account as something one should not invest in. Continue reading
CryptoCoinsNews: Disable Your Adblocker!
CryptoCoinsNews, a spamblog that accepts payment in exchange for the promotion of scams, is now demanding that readers of the website disable adblocking software or go elsewhere if they are unwilling to support the site. In the event the CCN website detects the use of an adblocker, the user is redirected to a page stating the following: Continue reading
BIP-65: Revisiting nLockTime
Peter Todd and Gregory Maxwell submitted BIP65 at the beginning of October. The proposed change attempts to improve the network's behavior in handling "locked transactions", by introducting a new opcode OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY. Yesterday, Jeff Garzik sent out a tweet hinting the protocol improvement may be approved relatively soon: Continue reading
Bank of Canada: Bitcoin Poses No Risk But We'll Watch It Closely Anyway
With her feet standing upon the shores of beach fiat, Carolyn Wilkins, the senior deputy governor for Bank of Canada stated on Thursday that the incoming Bitcoin tsunami does not currently pose a risk to stability in Canada. Conceding that the tsunami will indeed reach the shore, she continued by saying that Bitcoin must be watched closely for any threat it poses to the financial system. Continue reading
Dickson County Tennessee Sheriff Hit with Ransomware, Pays
The Memphis Business Journal reports that recently an employee of the Dickson County Sheriff's office invited ransomware to lock the department's case files. After consultation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, the department paid the ransom.
Ethereum's Contract Language Implemented On The Bitcoin Blockchain With Counterparty
Counterparty announced in a press release that they successfully implemented Ethereum's "smart contract" scripting language on the Blockchain. The press release stated: Continue reading