Despite Xoom's vague assertion that "it doesn't think that customer data or customer money was involved in the Dec. 30 theft," the heist –consisting of an amount of dollars most holders of the currency can only dream of ever obtaining, as the vast majority of dollars are held by 1% of users, marks another foreboding blow to the future of USD. The value proposition for the average person just isn't there, and for the users attempting to send their hard-earned cash to families in need back home, dollars are looking downright evil. In fact, the only real use for dollars would be doing something illegal. "It's a mirage, basically. Stay away from it," say Bitcoin's major investors. Some are even speculating that dollars could be used to fund terrorism and pose threats to national security. What nation's security? The. Clearly, dollars will never work as a currency.
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Remittance Company Xoom Loses Corporate Cash To Fraud
Xoom's Chief Financial has resigned amid news that $30.8 million in corporate money had been transfered overseas. Xoom's primary business is allowing individuals in the United States to send money to people outside of the country.
This case continues to highlight the extreme vulnerability too fraud faced by companies handling United States Dollars. This company whose entire business was foreign money transmission lost when facing the inherent structural deficiencies of the fiat banking and money transfer system. It seems unlikely that the fiat monetary system can survive its backbone of insecurity.
BitStamp Wallet Now Officially "Hacked"
A total of 18,867.62695929 BTC were moved from BitStamp's hot wallet to a wallet that is outside of their control. A statement attributed to Nejc Kodrič appears on Coindesk which differs from the one available on Bitstamp's own site. The Statement attributed to Nejc Kodrič on CoinDesk: Continue reading
Vault Of Satoshi Is Closing – Why?
Canadian owned and operated Bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi has announced their intentions to close the exchange as of February 5th 2015. As the timing of the announcement coincides with the current suspension of the Bitstamp exchange, VoS has stated that the decision to close the exchange has nothing to do with insolvency or stolen funds but merely a change of direction for the founders who wish to switch their focus to a non-Bitcoin project named TurboFlix. The announcement reads: Continue reading
Bitstamp Exchange Suspends Service
The sudden crisis at Bitstamp appears to have escalated from one of warning users not to deposit bitcoins and into a scenario whereby history may be repeating itself. The Bitstamp website has now been shuttered in order for security staff to assess the "security and soundness" of the exchange. The website now reads: Continue reading
Bitstamp Requests Users Stop Making Deposits
UPDATE – I can confirm that upon logging into Bitstamp, a warning is displayed:
DO NOT DEPOSIT TO PREVIOUSLY PROVIDED BITCOIN DEPOSIT ADDRESSES. Deposits sent to previous address will not be honored. New deposit addresses are forthcoming.
Bitstamp has is alleged to have requested that users of the exchange stop sending bitcoin deposits to their Bitstamp accounts after some users began reporting inconsistencies with their balance after transferring bitcoin to the exchange over the past hour. The email that is alleged to have come from Bitstamp reads: Continue reading
20,000 In Britain Investigated For Online Comments
The Independent reports that more than 20,000 people in Britain have been investigated by Law enforcement for comments they have made online in a story about a law enforcement investigation of a tabloid columnist for an online comment. Continue reading
ESPN Sold Their Bitcoins
The New York Post reports that ESPN Events, the operator of the Bitcoin Bowl, sold their $500,000 rights payment delivered in Bitcoin by BitPay immediately upon receipt. Further the two competing schools accepted their appearance fee in dollars. BitPay is still under contract to sponsor this bowl game for two more years giving ESPN two more chances and various schools four more chances to hold the Bitcoin BitPay offers. Continue reading
Theymos Claims Josh Garza Is Sending Him Legal Threats To Have Content Removed
Theymos, owner of bitcointalk.org and a moderator of /r/bitcoin, is claiming that he has been on the receiving end of legal threats from Josh Garza and his legal team. Garza is claimed to be demanding the removal of things from /r/bitcoin and the bitcointalk.org forums although it is not known which content Garza specifically takes offense to given much of what is being posted – such as claims of a $20 floor for Paycoin set by Garza and his $100 million backing in private funds – are known to have been said by Garza despite his attempts to re-write history by modifying previous posts. Continue reading
New Bitcoin Foundation Releases Year End Report
The new Bitcoin Foundation has issued a year end address where they have highlighted the work accomplished so far to produce a higher quality reference Bitcoin implementation. The foundation which came together in late October has focused their efforts on producing a patch set for the Bitcoin 0.5.3 codebase that results in a minimal reference implementation of the Bitcoin Protocol. Continue reading