Payment processor Stripe has terminated their business relationship with Cody Wilson, an activist who designs 3D printed firearms and milling tools for completing AR-15 lower receivers. His charity Defense Distributed currently has listed for sale in their online store a t-shirt, a sticker, a PVC patch, and a nail suitable for use as a firing pin in a 3d printed firearm. Defense Distributed also sold out its limited pre-order of the tabletop CNC mill named "Ghost Gunner" which is the product for finishing lower receivers, though will also support an open design format so that it may also be used for other aluminum milling purposes.
Coinero Project Seeks £150,000 For Bitcoin Gift Cards
Coinero is an Indiegogo project which is seeking £150,000, which at this time is around USD $240,000 to produce a redeemable Bitcoin gift card available in £15, £25 and £50 denominations. The card is designed to appeal to the newcomer that can manage to enter a shop, purchase a Coinero card and activate it at the checkout. Continue reading
2000 Coinbase Accounts Phished Via Blockchain.info Public Notes
From bitcomsec comes an interesting article describing how public notes on blockchain.info have been used to phish 2000 coinbase.com accounts in less than 2 weeks for a total of almost 17 BTC.
Sir Richard Branson: "Discuss Bitcoin At Next Month's G20 Summit"
With Virgin Galatic having failed to take him to the moon these past few days, Sir Richard Branson has penned an op-ed for the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association. Published on October 30th, Branson talks about his passion for Bitcoin but cites that it has its problems. Continue reading
Court Order: BFL to transfer Bitcoins to Court
In a new development in the Case against Butterfly Labs, the Court overseeing the case has ordered bitcoins held by Butterfly Labs to be turned over to the Court appointed temporary receiver. The order also gives the receiver authorization to convert the bitcoins "to cash on a systematic and reasoned basis." The justification for this measure is at least to ostensibly create reserves with which refunds for Butterfly Labs customers may be paid from. Continue reading
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
Boost VC Close $6.6 Million In Funding
Boost VC, a startup accelerator founded by Adam Draper and Brayton Williams, have closed USD $6.6 million in bezzle which will be used to fund and develop 200 companies over the next three years. Investors in this round include Adam Draper's father Tim Draper, grandfather Bill Draper, Marc Andreessen, Ben Davenport, Barry Schuler, Rothenberg Ventures, Maven II and Kilowatt Capital. 50% of the capital raised will be used to fund Bitcoin startups. 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
New Bitcoin Deed System Launches
Blocks in the blockchain serve as a distributed timestamp consensus: a block is a definitive record of time. punkman from the #bitcoin-assets irc channel launched a system today which allows users to prove through the blockchain the date of publication of a document. Continue reading
7th Underhanded C Contest Going on Now
The Underhanded C contest opened to challengers yesterday and continues though New Years day 2015. This year's challenge features oversharing sites and National Security Letters in its theme, but with a twist in that the surveillance function is to subtly leak information about the act of surveillance. Last year's challenge involved a social media theme as well, though with a different angle for mischief. Challenges from past years are featured on the site which feature solutions perfect for ramping up a person's paranoia about software quality.