Peter Vessenes of the defunct Bitcoin Foundation told a news conference at the Daejeon Global Innovation Forum that Samsung stands to benefit from over half a billion dollars he expects to be invested in the production of 10nm ASIC chips for bitcoin mining over the next 18 months. Continue reading
Internet Service Providers Stripping STARTTLS Flag
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation a number of Internet Service Providers are stripping the STARTTLS flag from their customer's email sessions. STARTTLS is a protocol that encrypts emails between origin and destination servers, but leaves the plaintext contents of email completely accessible on the servers. The property of STARTTLS which allows ISPs to deny their customers to use it is explicitly baked into the protocol. Continue reading
Chris Popple Of RBS In Regards To Bitcoin: "We're Definitely Interested In It"
The latest episode in a documentary series produced by The Drum titled "The Day Before Tomorrow" looks at Bitcoin and discusses it with various people such as Jeremy Liew, Joel Raziel and Chris Popple. While the episode is typical of what you might expect from an outlet that knows little to nothing about Bitcoin, the interview with Chris Popple is a little interesting. Chris Popple is the Managing Director of Digital at The Royal Bank of Scotland and in regard to Bitcoin he states: Continue reading
Irish Independent: Onymous Suspect Related to Footballer – Retracted
Story was retracted by source
The Irish Independent reports that one of the suspects arrested in the Irish contribution to Operation Onymous is related to Dublin Footballer Paul Mannion. Neil Mannion along with Richard O'Connor, who is not known to have a sibling of great athletic merit, are charged with possession of ecstasy with intent to sell or supply. Continue reading
USPS Hacked: Every Employee's Personal Information Compromised
The Washington Post reports that a security breech at the United States Postal Service has compromised the personal information of all persons employed by the service. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe the United States Postal Service has not yet seen any evidence the compromised data is being misused.
RBNZ: "Does Not Feel Threatened By Bitcoin
Grant Spencer, the deputy governor and head of financial stability for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has told an audience at the Payments New Zealand Conference that the RBNZ does not see the rise of Bitcoin as a threat but he did express concern about the potential for broad cyber attacks. Continue reading
Bulgarian SNAS Release on Operation Onymous
A number of interesting tidbits come out of the Bulgarian State Agency for National Security press release on Operation Onymous.
- 129 of the Tor hidden services closed were located in Bulgaria
- Three persons were arrested in Sofia, and from them were seized 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, 5 mobile phones, SIM cards, and a sum of money
- In Plovdiv a Turkish National was allegedly detained with 40 kilograms of heroin spread over 78 packages, and the investigation continues in the case as another person is suspected of assisting.
- Bulgarian official offered an exchange rate for the Lev which values 100,000 Lev at 1 kilogram of heroin.
Florida Man Arrested for Online Drug Trading
The Tampa Bay times reports that Florida Man, Ronald Delaet, allegedly bought drugs from the Internet and resold them. Law Enforcement reportedly found "hundreds" of postal receipts and was able to intercept 5 packages in transit. The local paper's report singles out allegations by police that he sold a bottle of fentanyl nasal solution to a 17 year old who is supposed to have told his mom he planned on using it to overdose. Given the early involvement of Law Enforcement in developing SilkRoad 2.o it is likely that reports of similar arrests will continue for some time.
National Bank of Ukraine: Bitcoin Not to Be Used for Payments
There are reports that the National Bank of Ukraine has issued a directive on its Facebook page banning not recognizing the use of Bitcoin for payments within the country. It remains to be seen if other States will begin following Ukraine's lead and begin issuing missives via Facebook post, as well as to what extent the National Bank of Ukraine can actually prevent Bitcoin payments from happening within their borders during a time where Ukrainian borders seem to be undergoing revision.
Professor Bitcorn Talks Top Ten Risks Associated With Bitcoin
Mark Thomas Williams, better known as Professor Bitcorn and for claiming that bitcoin would crash to $10 by mid 2014, last month appeared at the World Bank Conference in Washington, D.C where he outlined his top ten risks associated with Bitcoin. The PDF is available here or read the 10 threats below. Continue reading