Bitfinex has announced (archive) that their hot wallet may have been compromised and in a move reminiscent of the Bitstamp hack earlier this year is asking customers to cease deposits to older addresses at this time. The full statement reads: Continue reading
Author Archives: cazalla
Social Engineering Attack Takes Bitcoin Talk Offline
Theymos of Bitcoin Talk has advised that a successful social engineering attack on the ISP NFOrce enabled an attacker to gain access to the server which hosts the once popular forum. Theymos writes (archive): Continue reading
Mining Difficulty Jumps By 2.44%
With the tenth adjustment in the Bitcoin mining difficulty for 2015, the difficulty has increased to 48,807,487,245. Today's adjustment represents an increase of 2.44% over May 3rd's difficulty of 47,643,398,018. The global hash rate as of today's change stands at 349,377,603 GH/s.
Russian Block On Bitcoin Websites Overturned
A move to block access to Bitcoin related websites from within Russia earlier this year has been overturned according to a Russian bitcoin news site (archive) after representatives from Bits.media as well as Bitcoinconf.ru successfully argued that the decision to ban their websites should be cancelled. Continue reading
Four Australians Among 21 Arrested For Firearm Purchases
Australian newspaper The Herald Sun reports (archive) that four Australians are among 21 people arrested by a joint Australian and American taskforce aimed at curbing the online purchase of firearms with bitcoin on the dark web. Continue reading
The Chicken Brothers Cook Up Some Ransomware
Bloatware publisher Symantec reports (archive) that a variant of Cryptolocker is infecting numerous computers throughout Australia, demanding a ransom of up to AUD $1,000 or USD $790 payable to none other than Los Pollos Hermanos.
The Breaking Bad branded variant, which encrypts common file extensions such as *.gif, *.doc, *.mp3, *.pdf, *.txt. *.zip, *.xls and so on directs victims to email theonewhoknocks@mailinator.com for support related enquiries, but at this time that inbox is empty. Continue reading
UK Man Sentenced To Six Years Prison
A young man from Cambridge (archive) in the UK has been sentenced to prison having plead guilty to charges related to the production of MDMA and the possession of Ketamine and Heroin. 22 year old Callum Fay was first arrested back in June of 2012 after local police were informed by the UK Border Agency that Fay was importing Cocaine from India. Continue reading
Government Funded Exchange BitSpark Shifts To Remittances
Hong Kong based Bitcoin exchange BitSpark has announced (archive) its decision to "temporarily retire" its exchange, opting instead to shift attention to remittances across the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Hong Kong and China. As part of that change of direction, BitSpark intends to launch a remittance focused product later this month at the 2015 Innotribe semi finals in Singapore. Continue reading
Mining Difficulty Increases, Albeit By A Small Amount
With the ninth adjustment in the Bitcoin mining difficulty for 2015, the difficulty has increased to 47,643,398,018. Today's adjustment represents a minor increase of 0.07% over April 19th's difficulty of 47,610,564,513. The global hash rate as of today's change stands at 341,044,727 GH/s and approximately 64 weeks and three days remain until the next reward halving occurs.
Deep Web Marketplace Go-Betweener Faces 20 Years Jail
Having previously plead not guilty to charges related to the arbitrage of drugs purchased via the deep web and sold to IRL customers, 23 year old Joseph Patrick Gelli of Lexington, South Carolina last week plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Count 12, to which Gelli plead guilty, states that between June 2013 through to July 2014 Gelli purchased bitcoin from Coinbase in order to facilitate the purchase of drugs via an unnamed deep web marketplace so that it could later be onsold for a profit. Continue reading
