In dueling narratives in today's news headlines in Belarus the country is simultaneously experiencing both a trade bonanza and a currency panic to which strong capital controls have been imposed in response. As this happens a Russian Member of Parliament hinted in a tweet that if President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko warms relations with the west in an effort to improve economic prospects he might face a fate similar to Libya's Ghaddafi who fell in a coup supported by the United States after entering into a détente. Continue reading
Category Archives: Altcoins
Reddit Goes Full Redditard with Reddit Notes
In February of 2013, Reddit began accepting bitcoin for Reddit Gold. The company then went on to hire Ryan X. Charles as a Cryptocurrency Engineer, tasked with a secret project revealed today as Reddit Notes.
The company recently raised $50 million, which could be the result of the company's inability to remain profitable long term, as the company closed the 2013 fiscal year in the red, resulting in the "daily reddit gold goal" meter. Now being valued at $500 million, the company stated its desire to give back 10% of its equity to its user base via cryptocurrency. Continue reading
Ethan Burnside Fined By SEC
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has fined Ethan Burnside for operating the Bitcoin Trading Company (BTC-TC) and Litecoin Global (LTC-Global) virtual currency securities exchanges. Per the SEC's order Ethan Burnside will pay: Continue reading
Von NotHaus Gets House Arrest
Reports are coming out that Bernard Von NotHaus has been sentenced to six months of house arrest. He was convicted in 2011 for minting a precious metal backed private currency called the Liberty Dollar which he intended to have rival the Federal Reserve note. Von NotHaus had been described by prosecutors and law enforcement officials as a terrorist for encouraging private persons to barter with silver and gold coins as an alternative to using United States Dollars. The Liberty Dollar was introduced in 1998. Von Nothaus was warned in 2006, raided in 2007, indicted in 2009, convicted in 2011, and finally sentenced December 3rd 2014. Von Nothaus had faced potentially 40 years in prison and a loss of millions of dollars, but the United States Attorney only managed again, a sentence of six months of house arrest.
Citigroup's Buiter: Gold a Shiny Bitcoin
According to Marketwatch Citigroup's "Global Chief Economist" William Buiter has some thoughts on Gold, Bitcoin, and other currencies in response to a Swiss referendum on how much gold the Swiss central bank should be keeping in reserves and where. Among those thoughts: Continue reading
Netherlands Repatriates Some Gold
There are reports that the Netherlands has repatriated a substantial portion of its gold holdings from the Federal Bank of New York to their own physical custody. This move changes their allocation of gold held at home from 11% to 31%, and the portion held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 51% to 31% while the remainder of their holdings are split between the Bank of England and Canada. There is no news yet as to whether they've drilled the bars and found tungsten.
mcxNow Says it is Becoming mtMOX
Alleged cryptocurrency exchange mcxNOW has shuttered again for a second consecutive winter, and purports to be reopening eventually under the new name mtMOX. The first winter shuttering occurred one month after conducting a public offering for "Fee Shares" on the platform. The announcement: Continue reading
Onename Raises $1.5 Million in Seed Funding for Decentralized Authentication
It was confirmed this week Onename has raised $1.5 million in seed funding. On Wednesday, the company announced on their blog they would be open-sourcing a set of tools including a suite to utilize their in-development Openname Auth, a protocol for decentralized and password-less authentication. These set of tools work with their already open source protocol upon which Onename is built on called Openname, which in turn is built upon Namecoin. Continue reading
ISIS Introduces Coins
There are reports that the Islamic State has announced the introduction of a new trimetal monetary system, which they claim is based on the ancient dinar. The original dinar of course was a rebadging of the Byzantine δηνάριον by early Islamic rulers. The new ISIS currency consists of seven coins of which two are gold, three are silver, and two are copper. According to the Brookings Institute the coins are inscribed with a version of the message "The Islamic State: A Caliphate in Accordance with the Prophetic Method" reflecting the Islamic State's declaration of a Caliphate back in June. Continue reading
As IPO Fails, Breakout Gaming Plan A Bait And Switch
After the failed Breakout Gaming ICO managed only to raise 80.71 BTC of the 10,000 BTC they were aiming for, the team behind the coin are planning to pull a bait and switch in hopes of salvaging what's left of the non-existent casino. Some of poker's biggest names, such as David Benyamin, Todd Brunson and Johnny Chan have been used to promote the coin and gaming network. Continue reading