Today the FBI announced the closure of the Silk Road 2.0 and the arrest yesterday of Blake Benthall the alleged operator of Silk Road 2.0 who operated under the moniker "Defcon." The charges leveled at Benthall include: Continue reading
Category Archives: North America
Cody R Wilson Announces Candidacy for Vessenes' Bitcoin Foundation's Board
In a busy day for Cody R Wilson he has now announced his candidacy for the board of Vessenes' Bitcoin Foundation. His platform consists simply of disbanding the organization from within. While others have different plans for taking on the organization, Cody clarified his plan in tweets:
Cody R. Wilson @Radomysisky · 16m 16 minutes ago
My platform is simple. The Foundation should be shuttered, the coins sold on the open market. I will name names.Cody R. Wilson @Radomysisky · 15m 15 minutes ago
No quarter. No gentleman's agreements with legitimists.
Given the simplicity of the plan one has to wonder, why does it include topping up Buterin's Waterfall?
Commissioner Mark Wetjen: "CFTC Would Have Authority To Bring Enforcement Actions Against..
Mark Wetjen, Commissioner of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission otherwise known as the CFTC, has penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in which he states that the CFTC could have authority to bring enforcement action against anyone manipulating Bitcoin. Continue reading
American Malls Converted To Data Centres
As American malls and derpartment stores grow ever more empty, data centre operators such as Venyu Solutions are seizing the opportunity to convert the vacant shops into rack space. Continue reading
Bitreserve Holds your Bitcoins as Fiat
In an attempt to address the price volatility of Bitcoin, Bitreserve recently launched as a Bitcoin storage service that keeps users' funds in the form of fiat. Bitreserve does this by immediately market selling any incoming deposits, essentially locking in the fiat value of the credited funds. Users are entitled to the locked fiat amount in Bitcoin upon withdrawal, thus users may lose or gain BTC due to volatility. Continue reading
Matonis to Resign from Vessenes Bitcoin Foundation
Jon Matonis is resigning as the Executive Director of the Bitcoin Foundation effective December 31st. According to CoinDesk he will be replaced as executive director by the Foundations Council and his vacant board seat will be up for election with those of incumbents Peter Vessenes and Gavin Andresen.
USG Bezzel Rocket Explodes
WKMG in Orlando reports that an unmanned resupply ship commissioned by NASA for the International Space Station has exploded seconds after launch. The craft was an Antares Rocket and Cygnus Resupply craft combination supplied to NASA by contractor Orbital Sciences Corporation.
Update: Video of the explosion Continue reading
LedgerX Thinks Bitcoin is Ready for Options (Again)
New York City startup LedgerX has submitted applications to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commisions (CFTC), to register as a "swap execution facility and derivatives clearing organization." If approved LedgerX would be allowed to list physically-settled digital currency option contracts, particularly Bitcoin denominated contracts. Continue reading
FinCEN: Payment Processors, Others may be Regulated Money Transmitters
FinCEN issued two administrative rulings in regards to "Virtual Currency." The first concerns "exchanges" and supposes they may be regulated as Money Transmitters under the Banking Secrecy Act. The second though supposes that payment processors like BitPay may similarly fall under their purview. This shift comes contrary to the expectations BitPay had disclosed anticipating from FinCEN.
PDFs of the rulings are available here: ruling 1, ruling 2. Extracted plaintext is available below. Continue reading
Cryptsy and Shavers Sued by Victims
Silver Law Group has filed two lawsuits: one against Paul Vernon, CEO of Cryptsy a cryptocoin to cryptocoin exchange, and Trendon Shavers, also known as "pirateat40", operator of a ponzi scheme, Bitcoin Savings and Trust. Many of Cryptsy's customers have been disappointed with the service, as complaints of users missing coins have surfaced. These complaints became so numerous, the company sent out a blanket email to their users addressing the issue: Continue reading