A new report by SWIFT shows that the Chinese Yuan (RMB) rising in use for international payments compared to a number of other nationally issued currencies. This surge highlights the constant instability suffered by users of fiat currencies as the increased internationalization of the RMB makes it more difficult for the users of other alternative national currencies to market their chosen value token to new users. The RMB is presently the fifth most popular national currency for payments usage behind the United States dollar, the Euro, the Pound which was formerly Sterling, and the Japanese Yen. The Yen is particularly vulnerable to losing adoption and popularity versus the RMB as it is only 0.52% more popular as of the time covered by this SWIFT report.
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
Missouri State Auditor Dies of Gunshot Wound
Missouri state auditor and leading candidate for Missouri Governor Tom Schweich died today1 of a gunshot wound described as "self inflicted" by the media. Schweich was a notable force against corruption in government battling efforts to squander the bountiful resources collected from taxpayers at every turn. His death was "confirmed by his office" mere hours after placing numerous phone calls to media outlets requesting and scheduling interviews for later today. Four months ago he was elected to a second term as auditor by 73 percent of voters.
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GPG Criticism Reaches New Low As Use Cases Expand
This week former Twitter engineer and microcelebrity Moxie Marlinspike unleashed a torrent of criticism against the Gnu Privacy Guard encryption software, which he loosely justified by confusing an etiquette problem with a technical problem. Continue reading
NY "Environmental Protection" Raid Drives Suicide
Yesterday Dell's Maraschino Cherries in Brooklyn was raided by the New York Department of Environmental Protection and the Brooklyn District Attorney's office under the pretext of searching for violations of environmental protection regulations. The pretext was used because law enforcement had "received a tip" that the thriving cherry business was being used as a front for an operation engaging in marijuana commerce. The "tip" however was insufficiently credible to justify a search warrant from a judge. Continue reading
Half Million Dollar Ransom Made In Bitcoin
For one Canadian expatriate the term "Ransomware" has taken a more literal turn. According to The Tico Times Ryan Piercy was allegedly kidnapped and held for roughly a month by attackers who demanded a half million dollar ransom to be paid in Bitcoin. Piercy arrived home Saturday via taxi, so if Piercy was indeed held for ransom it seems incredibly likely the ransom was paid and the scheme worked as advertised.
Court: No Surveillance Records for FBI Terrorist
The United States Supreme Court without comment denied Adel Daoud, a 21 year old FBI trained terrorist, access to secret court orders which authorized electronic surveillance against him. Without access to the documents authorizing surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act there is no practical means for Daoud to mount a legal defense against the legality of the surveillance he was placed under. Daoud was arrested for triggering a device outside of a Chicago bar which was provided to him by the FBI and which the FBI swears they told him was a bomb. Continue reading
US Political Crisis May Impoverish Homeland Security Department
The New York Times reports that a legislative impasse in the United States Congress might leave the Department of Homeland Security without funds. If this comes to pass, roughly 30,000 employees in mostly administrative positions will be furloughed while the remaining 200,000 employees deemed "critical" would be compelled to report for work as normal. The "critical" employees would be working without the expectation of receiving a pay check.
The Superfish Funder List
In the wake of yesterday's disclosure of Lenovo's appalling inclusion of the Superfish malware on their OEM Windows installs, let us highlight the Venture Capital Firms which made Superfish possible: Continue reading
Seals With Clubs Shutters
On an announcement replacing their normal front page one of Bitcoin's longest tenured poker sites, Seals with Clubs, has decided to close their doors citing "Operational Security" concerns. They cite without specifics several events which occurred around February 11th, 2015 as being the catalyst for the decision, offering that if Seals with Clubs continued as presently structured it would be "in a perpetual state of jeopardy." They are advising users to withdraw their funds as soon as possible. Continue reading
Windows Ecosystem Security Still Horrifying
Today it was revealed that Lenovo has been installing a piece of adware called "Superfish" which uses an SSL man in the middle attack to replace ads served to users and potentially engage in all kinds of other evil. Abuse of unaware users who run Microsoft Windows by computing vendors has a long history which includes many other notable episodes such as Sony proposing a lack of factory bloatware as a premium option to the entire existence of the venture known as "WildTangent." Continue reading