The U.S. Department of the Treasury today released (archive) two documents with the stated aim of helping the public and private sector understand the methodology used by supposed criminals to facilitate money laundering and terrorist financing. The two documents – titled the National Money Laundering Risk Assessment (NMLRA) and the National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment (NTFRA) – cite Bitcoin as just one method supposed criminals use to launder money and supposedly fund terrorist organisations such as ISIL/ISIS. Continue reading
Author Archives: cazalla
Online Drug Trade Booming Despite Silk Road Shut Down & Ulbricht's Subsequent Life Sentence
2015's Global Drug Survey (archive) – which collected data from over 100,000 respondents across 50 countries via platforms such as The Guardian (archive) and Fairfax Media (archive) – has revealed what most people already knew: that people are increasingly turning to online darknet markets to facilitate the purchase of drugs and use bitcoin to pay for them; 2014 saw an increase in the number of newcomers to the darknet markets; people experienced less physical violence, threats to personal safety, blackmail and threats to reveal one's identity when buying drugs online and more often received the correct product. However, darknet marketplace participants experienced more theft, pricing volatility and waited longer to receive their orders. Questions and data released in the report include: Continue reading
Bandits Stick Up Craigslist Bitcoin Seller
The dangers of trapping has once again reared its head in the city of New York with CNBC reporting (archive) a 28 year old man who attempted to sell bitcoins via craigslist met with a purported buyer who then lead him to a vehicle to finalise the transaction. Hidden in the back seat of the car was another man who ordered the seller to transfer the bitcoins to his wallet at the point of a gun. In addition to the USD $1,100's worth of bitcoin, the bandits stole the man's mobile phone. Continue reading
Company Pays $14,000 Ransom In Bitcoin, Attackers Return For More
The Brisbane Times reports (archive) that an unnamed multinational company located in Brisbane, Australia recently paid a bitcoin ransom totalling AUD $14,000 or approximately USD $10,500 after its computer system was compromised resulting in the theft of what police claim is sensitive data pertaining to the operation of the business. Continue reading
Qntra (S.QNTR) May 2015 Statement
OKCoin Ver Dispute Escalates
The dispute between OKCoin and Roger Ver over which contract governs an agreement they made regarding the bitcoin.com domain name continues to escalate with Ver's friend and former CTO of OKCoin Changpeng Zhao publicly stating (archive) that he had a gentleman's agreement with Ver which he expected OKCoin to honour after he left the company.
In addition to siding with Ver's version of events, Zhao claims OKCoin has been engaged in an assortment of deceptive conduct regarding the operation of its exchange, specifically: Continue reading
Ross Ulbricht Sentenced To Life In Prison
Convicted of seven offences last February, Ross William Ulbricht was today (archive) sentenced to life in prison with no parole for the part he played in the operation of the Silk Road. In addition to his life sentence, Ulbricht has been ordered to pay the United States Government USD $183,961,921 despite the fact it has already sold a majority of the coins it confiscated from Ulbricht via the USMS auctions.
Speaking to the life sentence she handed down, U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest said: Continue reading
DoJ Charges Dark Market Coupon Merchant
The US Department of Justice reports (archive) it has charged a Louisiana man with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit trademark counterfeiting. Beau Wattigney AKA PurpleLotus/GoldenLotus/MoxDiamond and NickMode is alleged to have sold counterfeit coupons on the original Silk Road and later Blake Benthall's Silk Road 2.0. The coupons entitled the bearer to massive discounts on products such as US $50 Visa Gift Cards which could be purchased for $0.01 each. Wattigney is alleged to have defrauded more than 50 manufacturers, retailers and online coupon retailers in excess of US $1,000,000. Continue reading
Vietnam's Ministry of Justice Suffers Ransomware Attack
Vietnamese newspaper Thanh Niên reports (archive) that several computers located at Vietnam's Ministry of Justice recently became infected with ransomware leading to the encryption of important data. Following the ransomware attack, other agencies under the helm of the MoJ were advised to guard against such infections in a stock standard manner as is typically suggested by government – don't visit unfamiliar websites and take extra caution opening email attachments. Continue reading
Six Months In, OKCoin Relinquish Control Of Bitcoin.com
Despite a rumoured five year contract between blockchain.info and the owner of bitcoin.com which would see blockchain.info manage the desirable domain name, management of the site was switched to OKCoin in December of last year. At that time OKCoin hoped to build a site which would raise more awareness (archive) about Bitcoin. Six months later, OKCoin has announced it will no longer be managing bitcoin.com due to contractual conflicts with Roger Ver. OKCoin allege Ver responded to the decision to part ways with threats of publicly announcing OKCoin engage in fraud and potential lawsuits. Continue reading