On Cryptome's front page, the top is occupied by an announcement that they received a letter from the IRS dated September 17th granting them status as a 501(c)(3) charity whose donations are now tax deductible (archived). The date on the letter is only 2 days after the announcement of the revocation of then current Cryptome PGP keys. It is unknown if the events are connected, though the timing raises suspicions.
Monthly Archives: October 2015
Judge Dismisses Charges Against Kentucky Drone Shooter
WDRB reports that Judge Rebecca Ward has dismissed all charges (archived) against the Kentucky Man who shot down a drone in defense of his property this July.
FBI Agent Encourages Paying Ransomware Demands
The Security Ledger report at a summit the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s CYBER and Counterintelligence Program at the Boston field office, Joseph Bonavolonta, encourages paying ransomware demands (archived). The quality of the encryption implementations utilized in ransomware is frequently too high for his office to do anything to recover the affected files. As a prophylactic measure he encouraged healthy backup measures so systems could at least be restored to a pre-ransomware state.
EU Court Rules Bitcoin Above VAT
Yesterday the EU Court of Justice relased a ruling (archived) stating that transactions exchanging Bitcoin for fiat currency are exempt from the VAT (Value Added Tax). This puts Bitcoin exchange transactions in the same VAT exempt class as exchanges between other currencies or similar financial instruments.
Ethereum Bet Update
The bet over Ethereum's ability to make it out of 2015 alive previously covered on Qntra has climbed to more than 209 Bitcoin in total wagers. The odds have shifted with 35% of the wagers now predicting Ethereum's demise while 65% largely in early wagers stands hoping Ethereum just might have a future. Since September 25th only 1.45807 Bitcoin in new bets have come in in favor of Ethereum. At present Ethereum is trading around 0.0016 Bitcoin per Ether token a in a substantial and sustained decline from their peak price in August. Further bad news came for Ethereum near the end of September when Buterin revealed his foundation backing Ethereum was spending at a rate that would leave it insolvent.
Symbolics Quadruples Revenue in FY 2015 on One USG Transaction
The privately held firm Symbolics which holds the remaining assets and intellectual property of the former lisp machine manufacturer Symbolics, Inc is reported on the US Government's spending disclosure site to have quadrupled its revenue over last year. The transaction is reported as being for: Continue reading
LSE Report Reveals Dismal Performance of VCs in Bitcoin
A new report by Dr. Garrick Hileman and Danqing Ying of the London School of Economics reveals some interesting and noteworthy facts and figures about the state of the fiat-facing Bitcoin economy – that Tacoma Narrows bridge of finance that exists largely in the minds of government regulators and social media "experts" – from which, some highlights: Continue reading
Operation Cyber Juice: Police and Their Favorite Drug of Abuse, Part 1
Back in September the Drug Enforcement Agency announced an action dubbed "Operation Cyber Juice" involving the bust of a handful of underground labs compounding imported raw anabolic steroid materials into oral and injectable preparations suitable for end users. Also busted were a number of distributors including persons dealing steroids at a LA Fitness club Franchise and at a Juice bar (archived). At least as interesting though, not very surprising is the number of underground labs and clearnet internet vendors who were not busted despite publicly declaring a presence in the United States. Continue reading
Illinois and Pennsylvania Credit Ratings Lowered
Reports have emerged today that the United States regional governments of Illinois (archived) and Pennsylvania (archived) have had their credit ratings lowered joining the embattled municipality of Ferguson as the creditworthiness of the United States and its parts continue sliding due to the structural insolvency of the fiat currency experiment. Illinois was downgraded by Fitch Ratings while Pennsylvania was downgraded by Moody's. Illinois already lead the United States with the lowest credit rating of any State government, and is embroiled in a budgetary dispute between new Governor Bruce Rauner and the legislature run by the opposing political party. The financial situation in Illinois has degraded to the point the self funding state lottery can no longer pay out winning tickets about $600 with ongoing labor unrest including a teacher's strike in East Saint Louis threatening to destabilize some of Illinois most volatile areas. Pennsylvania by contrast was downgraded due to ongoing structural deficits and underfunded pension obligations.
Former GAW Supporters Promote Perpetual Energy Scam
BadBitCoin.org, a self declared "scam fighter" and erstwhile attempt at a Bitcoin Better Business Bureau, defended the GAW miners scam well past its point of collapse. Now the operators of that site have taken to shilling for a new take on the classic perpetual motion/free energy scam on their twitter account.