March 15, 2019 @ 5:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The disgraced former CEO of the Mt Gox bitcoin exchange, Mark Karpeles, has defeated overwhelming odds by being found not guilty of all but one charge leveled against him by Japan prosecutors, who typically enjoy a 99% conviction rate. The charges, which, according to CNN,… Read More

March 15, 2019 @ 6:29 am By Cali Haan  |  

Ryuk ransomware has been used to lock up files at Boston’s Committee for Public Counsel Services, a public defenders office that provides lawyers to those who cannot afford them, The Boston Globe reports. Fortunately, the agency was able to refuse to pay a cryptocurrency ransom… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 4:59 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Regulatory drag around the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs) combined with arguably excessive risk-tolerance have produced the disaster that has so far characterized crypto-investing for the average guy. If most ICO tokens were indeed circulated in what Professor Jorge Stolfi has argued are “negative… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 2:34 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has ruled that cryptocurrency trade platform Quoine must compensate “electronic market maker” B2C2 for reversing highly advantageous trades that resulted from a software glitch, Business Times reports. The decision was issued Thursday in what is reportedly the first legal… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 7:48 am By Cali Haan  |  

Rumours of the imminent launch of a cryptocurrency product from Facebook have been circulating for several months. In December, Bloomberg reported that people with inside knowledge were claiming that Facebook is developing a “stable coin” for WhatsApp money transfers in India, including remittances. According to… Read More

March 14, 2019 @ 7:41 am By Cali Haan  |  

2018 was an eventful year for ransomware attacks on North American soil and elsewhere. In November, the American Justice Department indicted two Iranians for alleged ransomware attacks on 200 government, institutional and private targets in the US, including an attack on the Port of San… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 9:21 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Police in the Canadian prairie city of Calgary are seeking information leading to the arrest of 4 men believed to have stolen $200 000 CAD from a Canadian Bitcoin ATM company, CBC reports. The four men allegedly executed 112 fraudulent “double spend” attacks on “bitcoin… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 8:06 pm By Cali Haan  |  

As part of its ongoing measures against the “illegitimate regime” of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned Evrofinance Mosnarbank, “a Moscow-based bank that is jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies.” According… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 6:01 am By Cali Haan  |  

Bear markets may have taken the wind out of several crypto fork’s sails, as the number of code commits lodged by developers of coins like Litecoin and Bitcoin Gold has fallen to less than half-a-dozen per month, says ‘crypto asset management firm’ Electric Capital. The… Read More

March 13, 2019 @ 5:36 am By Cali Haan  |  

A lawyer for a company that raised $3.5 million in three ICO (initial coin offerings) fundraises for a crypto product called “AlibabaCoin” has told the Reuters news agency that his clients have agreed to stop using the Alibaba name. The case borough against the firm… Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 9:53 pm By Cali Haan  |  

EY’s Global Innovation Leader says the deployment of distributed ledger tech will be important but relatively slow and unremarkable, Forbes India reports. As well, Paul R Brody says he does not see much practical use for public cryptocurrencies (“Bitcoin or nearly any other cryptocurrency”) in… Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 4:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

One of crypto’s main use cases -anonymity- has taken a hit in the state of Texas this week. An untitled bill (4371), which will require all cryptocurrency transactions to be conducted using unnamed “varied identity digital currencies,” has been introduced into the Texas state legislature…. Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 8:18 am By Cali Haan  |  

Police in Australia have arrested a 27-year-old man and charged him with 14 counts related to possession and distribution of hard drugs and steroids. As a related aspect of the drug bust, police have also, “suspended the registration of two digital currency exchange businesses where… Read More

March 12, 2019 @ 7:55 am By Cali Haan  |  

A hacker has attempted to sell hacked elite college admissions files to teenaged hopefuls waiting to find out if they have made it into their colleges of choice, Consumer Affairs reports. The hacker originally offered to sell files for 1 Bitcoin ($3800 USD)  in a… Read More

March 11, 2019 @ 9:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

CipherTrace, a “blockchain forensics” firm that provides law enforcement and other clients with real-world data on cryptocurrency transactions, has issued a statement assuring the public that it does not sell data it obtains during the course of business to any third parties. The statement comes… Read More

March 10, 2019 @ 12:20 pm By Cali Haan  |  

The phenomenon of “rubber hose decryption” robbery took a harrowing turn recently when criminals disguised as police entered the home of a Dutch Bitcoin trader and allegedly tortured him in front of his 4-year-old daughter, The Independent reports. The attack reportedly took place in the… Read More

March 10, 2019 @ 11:17 am By Cali Haan  |  

Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis has blogged to address possible concerns that its services could be being used to violate crypto users’ privacy. The company’s statement comes after controversy erupted last week when it was revealed that Coinbase, a large American crypto trading platform, had acquired… Read More

March 10, 2019 @ 10:17 am By Cali Haan  |  

“Consumer Spy Tech” and nano-tech enthusiasts may be pleased to hear that an American company called VaultTel has created a cryptocurrency hardware wallet that is accessed via one’s cellphone SIM-tray. Once inserted in a phone, the device, called the “VaultTel Intellichip card,” communicates with an… Read More

March 9, 2019 @ 11:05 am By Cali Haan  |  

PC Magazine is reporting this week on an apparent surge of on-campus cryptomining detected by cybersecurity firm Cisco. The news is noteworthy because, according to urban legend, crypto mining for bitcoins started mostly in dorm rooms and nerd basements. Stealthily, however, corporate crypto miners like… Read More

March 9, 2019 @ 9:52 am By Cali Haan  |  

The South Korean Supreme Prosecutors’ Office has created a task force dedicated to responding to a reported 800% increase in cryptocurrency crime complaints, South Korean news agency Naver reports. The task force, which will reportedly be, “packed…with professional investigators, prosecutors, and investigators as team heads,” was… Read More