Despite the bankruptcy of failed Bitcoin mining company Alydian and the inevitable collapse of the Bitcoin Foundation under his belt, Peter Vessenes and his company CoinLab would appear to be back. Hoping to strike it third time lucky, the CoinLab website (archive) came back online this past week now offering a blockchain analytic service for governments, agencies, industry and other investigations. Despite previously being quoted (archive) as saying that he stays away from companies which have questionable KYC policies, Vessenes now publicly appears eager to work alongside the biggest and most questionable company of all – government.
Author Archives: cazalla
UK Gambling Commission Strongarms Some Bitcoin Based Gambling Websites
The UK Gambling Commission has written (archive) to what it perceives to be Bitcoin gambling venues operating illegally due to the lack of a licence. The UK Gambling Commission states that regardless of where such a business is located, it must hold a licence if it is to provide British consumers with its services.
Gambling Commission CEO Jenny Williams said: Continue reading
Qntra (S.QNTR) June 2015 Statement
Mining Difficulty Decreases By -0.58%
With what is the 13th adjustment in the Bitcoin mining difficulty for this year sees it drop to 49,402,014,931 which is a reduction of -0.58% from June 14th's all time high of 49,692,386,355. Today's decrease marks the 5th time that the mining difficulty has decreased during 2015.
Bryan Micon Seals The Deal
The Las Vegas Review reports (archive) that in an effort to avoid jail time, Bryan Micon has agreed to plead guilty to a charge1 he is facing in relation to the running of the now defunct Seals with Clubs bitcoin based poker website. As part of that deal, Micon faces an as yet to be determined period of probation, a USD $25,000 fine and agreed to forfeit his computers, $900 in cash and 3.0996 BTC.
Reduced to a gross misdemeanour. ↩
FATF: Concerns Regarding Use Of Bitcoin By Terrorists
The Australian reports(paywalled) (archive) that a Financial Action Task Force meeting scheduled to run June 21st through 26th in Brisbane, Australia will include discussions regarding the possible use of Bitcoin by terrorists with the view that exchanges who turn bitcoin into fiat currency should be required to report transactions it perceives to be suspicious. At discussions held yesterday, the current head of FATF and former Australian public servant Roger Wilkins (archive) also shared concerns regarding the use of cash, saying: Continue reading
Bryan Micon To Return To Las Vegas To Face Charge
The Las Vegas Review Journal reports (archive) that Seals with Clubs operator Bryan Micon will return to Las Vegas to face a charge of operating an unlicensed interactive gaming system. Micon came to the attention of the Nevada Gaming Commission earlier this year for operating the now defunct Seals with Clubs bitcoin poker site which was relaunched by Micon himself as SwC Poker.
Court records1 indicate Micon will be released on his own recognisance after being booked with a hearing set for Thursday, June 25th at which Micon is expected to attend. Continue reading
Not verified by Qntra at this time. ↩
BitPay Continues To Falter
An interview (archive) conducted by UK Business Insider's Oscar Williams-Grut with BitPay's co-founder and CTO Stephen Pair reveals the company continues to struggle in its attempt to entice new customers to spend their bitcoins at one of the 60,000 merchants the payment processor claims to have signed up over a four year period since it launched back in May, 2011. Perhaps ignorant to the fact bitcoin holders might be inclined to spend their coins if accepted at actual value and not the price set by the likes of BitPay, Bitstamp, Bitfinex and so forth, Pair told Business Insider: Continue reading
CoinJar COO Ryan Zhou Caught Impersonating Dice Site's Developer
Co-founder and COO of CoinJar Ryan Zhou – better known as Zhoutong and for his involvement in the two thefts which plagued Bitcoinica back in 2012 – has been found once again with his hand in the cookie jar this time impersonating the developer of the bitcoin gambling sites BitDice.me and DogeDice.me on the subreddit /r/bitcoinmarkets.
Starting with a now deleted post in which an unknown user – arguably Zhoutong himself – complained that BTC-e had locked their account containing over 100 BTC and would not release the funds unless the user was forthcoming with identity documents. BitDice.me has since confirmed BTC-e locked the user's account at its behest after the funds were withdrawn from the dice site earlier this year when a user exploited the fact the dice site's administrator foolishly left test code on the live site which enabled users to add the site's own bitcoin to their account. Continue reading
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits An All Time High
After the May 31st adjustment in the Bitcoin mining difficulty which saw it drop from 48,807,487,245 to 47,589,591,154 or -2.50%, today's change in difficulty sees the network regain lost ground having reached a new all time high of 49,692,386,355.
The next block reward halving event looms ever closer with approximately 58 weeks remaining until it occurs.