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Bitcoin exchangers Charles Shrem, Robert Faiella plead guilty to federal charges

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On Thursday two prominent Bitcoin supporters, Robert Faiella and Charles Shrem, pleaded guilty to federal charges in a FederalDistrict Court in Manhattan. Faiella, 54, was also known as BTCKing and admitted to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business on Silk Road. Shrem, 24, was formerly the CEO of BitInstant and is one of the founding members of the Bitcoin Foundation. He pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money transmitting business.

A district court press release says that both men were accused on the basis that they, knowingly transmitted money intended to facilitate criminal activityspecifically, drug trafficking on 'Silk Road,' a black-market website designed to enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs anonymously and beyond the reach of law enforcement. Federal investigators shut down the Silk Road last October and arrested the alleged founder, Ross Ulbricht, who went by the name Dread Pirate Roberts.

Shrem and Faiella were both arrested in January. Prosecutors said the two sold over $1 million in Bitcoins to users of the Silk Road. According to court documents, Faiella sold bitcoins to Silk Road users directly and relied on Schrem's company to set up anonymous exchange accounts for his customers.

I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I am pleading guilty because I am guilty,"Shrem told the court on Thursday, according to The New York Times. In a prepared statement, the prominent Bitcoin advocate said that from January 2012 to October 2012 he helped Faiella exchange dollars into bitcoins through BitInstant. He said Mr. Faiella would in turn sell Bitcoin to people who wanted to buy drugs on Silk Road, the NYT reported.

In January, prosecutors alleged that BitInstant prohibited deposits from customers that exceeded $1,000 per day to circumvent disclosure requirements by US law. But substantial transactions and patterns of transactions that might stem from illegal activity are also required to be disclosed under anti-money laundering laws, and Schrem did not file the necessary reports.

The Federal district court judge set a sentencing datefor January 20, and both men face up to five years in prison. Schrem has been under house arrest at his parents' home in Brooklyn, New York. He has also been working for Payza, an online platform for sending and receiving the coins, TheNew York Times reports.

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Bitcoin exchangers Charles Shrem, Robert Faiella plead guilty to federal charges

Bitcoin Definition | Investopedia

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Bitcoin balances are kept using public and private "keys," which are long strings of numbers and letters linked through the mathematical encryption algorithm that was used to create them. The public key (comparable to a bank account number) serves as the address which is published to the world and to which others may send Bitcoin. The private key (comparable to an ATM PIN) is meant to be a guarded secret, and only used to authorize Bitcoin transmissions.

In March 2014, the IRS stated that all virtual currencies, including Bitcoin, would be taxed as property rather than currency. Gains or losses fromBitcoin held as capital will be realized as capital gains or losses, while Bitcoin held as inventory will incur ordinary gains or losses.

The independent individuals and companies who own the governing computing power and participate in the network, also known as "miners," are motivated by mining rewards (the release of new Bitcoin) and transaction fees paid in Bitcoin. These miners can be thought of as the decentralized authority enforcing the credibility of the Bitcoin network. New Bitcoin is being released to the miners at a fixed, but periodically declining rate, such that the total supply of Bitcoin approaches 21 million. One bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places (100 millionth of one bitcoin), and this smallest unit is referred to as a Satoshi. If necessary, and if the participating miners accept the change, Bitcoin could eventually be made divisible to even more decimal places.

Style notes: According to theofficialBitcoinFoundation, the word "Bitcoin"is capitalized in the context of referring to the entity or concept, whereas "bitcoin" is written in the lower case when referring to a quantity of the currency (e.g. "I traded 20bitcoin"). The currency can be abbreviated toBTCor, less frequently,XBT. The plural form of the word can be either "bitcoin" or "bitcoins."

To learn more about this cryptocurrency, check outHow do I buy Bitcoins?

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Bitcoin Definition | Investopedia

What Is Bitcoin? – Gizmodo

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Maybe you've heard of Bitcoinit wants to shake the entire global economy, and has become the financial bubble du jour with a skyrocketing value. It's online moneyan alternative to dollars and euros. Well what's that mean? It's complicated, but we break it down.

Bitcoin is not real money. It's an online "currency"virtual tokens that can be exchanged for goods and services at places that accept it, the same way you'd give someone a dollar for a cookie. But unlike a dollar, a Bitcoin has no serial number or any possible mechanism that could be used to trace it back to a buyer or seller. This makes it attractive to drug dealers and/or privacy advocates.

In their YouTube manifesto, Bitcoin's creators say they're going to revolutionize global finance the way the web changed publishing. So! Kind of a lofty goal, aiming to be a global currency up there with (or replacing) the dollar. Right now, that's still the pipiest of pipe dreams.

Aside from the software developers who work on new versions of the code that underpins Bitcoin, there's no Central Bitcoin Bankno virtual Federal Reserve. Bitcoins are backed by no one and nothing and completely unregulated.

When you write your friend a check, money from your account is withdrawn from your bank, and then transferred to her bank, and then she withdraws it as cash (maybe). With BitCoin, there are no middlemen (other than the users that comprise the network itself). Money goes straight from you to whomever, through the BitCoin P2P system, with no intermediary agency passing along the chips.

This is where it starts to get a little weird! Unlike traditional currency, that's backed up by something, (be it gold, silver, or a central bank), Bitcoins are generated out of thin air. Through a process called "mining," a little app sits on your computer and slowlyvery slowlycreates new Bitcoins in exchange for providing the computational power to process transactions. When a new batch of coins is ready, they're distributed in probabilistic accordance to whomever had the highest computing power in the mining process. The system is rigged so that no more than 21 million BitCoins will ever existso the mining process will yield less and less as time goes on, and more people sign up. This makes the whole system a lot sweeter for early adopters.

Compared to "real money," few places accept Bitcoin at the moment. But that's quickly changing. There's decent incentive for small businesses to accept Bitcoinsit's free to use, and there aren't any transaction fees. At the moment you can buy the services of a web designer, indie PC games, homemade jewelry, guns, and even cocaine. If the internet is the Wild West, BitCoin is its wampum.

Just like you can trade in yen for dollars, you can swap your BitCoins with other users for several "real world" currencies. And right now, the BitCoin is trading very high! When we first published this post in May 2011, one Bitcoin was worth $7.50. Today it's over $250. And climbing. And climbing and climbing. Not too shabbythe world is starting to see its first Bitcoin millionaires.

But like any bubbleor perhaps more so than most bubblesthe digital coin rush could collapse at any moment, leaving a lot of people with a lot of virtual nothing.

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What Is Bitcoin? - Gizmodo

Bitcoin operator admits to aiding drug dealers launder $1M

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Disgraced bitcoin evangelist Charlie Shrem is already talking about a comeback.

Minutes after pleading guilty to helping drug dealers launder $1 million via the virtual currency through the illicit Silk Road website Shrems lawyer said his client is hoping the bitcoin industry welcomes him back with open arms.

If permitted to be involved in bitcoin, he would pursue it doggedly, said Marc Agnifilo outside Manhattan federal court on Thursday. If God smiles upon him, hopefully he will be back in the bitcoin business, Agnifilo said.

Any pals of the 24-year-old felon, however, shouldnt plan the welcome-back party yet.

Under his plea agreement, Shrem faces up to five years in prison.

I knew that what I did was wrong, Shrem told Judge Jed Rakoff. I am pleading guilty because I am guilty.

Shrem ran BitInstant, a bitcoin exchange, before he was busted by the FBI.

His co-conspirator, Robert Faiella who ran an unlicensed money-transmitting business that Shrem was helping also pleaded guilty on Thursday to facilitating bitcoin transactions that he knew were being used to buy illegal narcotics.

Faiella, 54, also faces up to five years in prison.

Shrem at his office in 2013.Photo: JC Rice

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Bitcoin operator admits to aiding drug dealers launder $1M

Bitcoin backer Shrem pleads guilty to operating unlicensed payments

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Bitcoin backer Charlie Shrem pleaded guilty Thursday of knowingly transmitting money intended to facilitate drug trafficking on the Silk Road online underground market, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York said.

Shrem, a founder of the Bitcoin Foundation, is said to have been associated with Robert M. Faiella, who allegedly ran a Bitcoin exchange on the Silk Road from about December 2011 to October 2013, and went by the username BTCKing.

Silk Road, which was accessible only through the Tor anonymity service, used the anonymous bitcoin virtual currency to keep the identity of sellers and buyers private. Until its closure in October last year, Silk Road is alleged to have been a thriving market for drugs and other illegal products and services, including fake passports.

Faiella sold Bitcoins to users wanting to buy illegal drugs on the site, without registered his business as a money transmitting business with the U.S. Treasury Department, as required under U.S. federal regulations, according to government charges.

He filled the orders through a company in New York, which had Shrem as its chief executive officer and also its compliance officer, in charge of complying with federal anti-money laundering laws, from about August 2011 until about July 2013, when the company ceased operating. The statement from the U.S. attorneys office did not refer to the companys name Bitinstant.

Both Faiella and Shrem pleaded guilty before District Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, through which they knowingly transmitted money intended to facilitate criminal activityspecifically, drug trafficking on Silk Road, according to the U.S. attorneys office.

The lawyers for both Shrem and Faiella could not be immediately contacted. There was no record of the guilty pleas in the online records of the court.

Faiella and Shrem will be sentenced by Judge Rakoff next year on Jan 20. Shrem, who pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Faiella in his unlicensed money transmitting business, carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as also Faiella who pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Shrem quit as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation in January after charges were brought against him by the U.S. attorneys office. The foundation, while accepting his resignation, quoted from the indictment which said that Bitcoin are not inherently illegal and have known legitimate uses.

John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. More by John Ribeiro

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Bitcoin backer Shrem pleads guilty to operating unlicensed payments

Chris Before Coffee – Change Before You Have To – Teaching Bitcoin – 3rd September 2014 – Video

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Chris Before Coffee - Change Before You Have To - Teaching Bitcoin - 3rd September 2014
If you enjoy this episode please donate in bitcoins: 13U4gmroMmFwHAwd2Sukn4fE2WvHG6hP8e https://blockchain.info/address/13U4gmroMmFwHAwd2Sukn4fE2WvHG6hP8e Or Subscribe at http://www.patreon.com/chr...

By: World Crypto Network

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Chris Before Coffee - Change Before You Have To - Teaching Bitcoin - 3rd September 2014 - Video

Pioneiro do Bitcoin morre e se congela para ser ressucitado no futuro – Video

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Pioneiro do Bitcoin morre e se congela para ser ressucitado no futuro - Video

Bitcoin promoter pleads guilty over Silk Road charges

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"We believe he is at least one step more removed from the heartland of illegal conduct, which is really Silk Road," the lawyer said.

The two pleaded guilty as part of a deal struck with prosecutors from the office of Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara. They had been scheduled to go on trial on Sept. 22.

US authorities shut down Silk Road last year, though a new version bearing the same name was launched soon thereafter. The man accused of creating and operating Silk Road using the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts," Ross William Ulbricht, is facing separate charges and is scheduled for trial in November.

Mr Shrem stepped down from his post as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group, soon after his arrest in January. He was previously the chief executive of BitInstant, a Bitcoin exchange company.

Prosecutors said Mr Faiella, 54, operated an underground Bitcoin exchange on Silk Road under the name "BTCKing," providing currency for users engaged in illicit drug trafficking.

Mr Shrem processed transactions for Mr Faiella through BitInstant despite knowing the Bitcoin would eventually find their way to Silk Road, where the funds would be used for drugs, he said in court.

Both men agreed to forfeit $950,000 to the government as part of their plea deals.

"Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem opted to travel down a crooked path running an illegal money transmitting business that catered to criminals bent on trafficking narcotics on the dark web drug site, Silk Road," Bharara said in a statement.

Edited by Steve Wilson

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Bitcoin promoter pleads guilty over Silk Road charges

Bitcoin, The Cryptography-based Currency Continues To Rely On Banks For Security

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Reddits r/Bitcoin is a popular forum where BTC enthusiasts shared news links and anti-establishment jokes. The site was so influential among the community that a recent book about Bitcoin calledThe Anatomy of a Money-like Informational Commodity discussed the viability of using the number of registered members of the forum as a way to gauge the market sentiment.

One of the most upvoted post on the channel yesterday is one entitled Worst Night of My Life, in which a Bitociner recounted how his family responded after they discovered that his parents house broken into with the safe stolen by the burglars.

The thieves simply threw a rock through his (the authors fathers) back sliding glass window, rummaged around in the house until they found the safe and dom hemingwayd it right off of the foundation it was bolted onto. Inside of his safe was an uncommonly large number of bitcoins (he is an early adopter) on a non password protected paper wallet.

For the uninitiated, a paper wallet is an offline mechanism for storing bitcoins. Unlike online wallets, sometimes referred to hot wallets, paper wallet is a form of cold storage, which is deemed immune to hacking, the cause of most of Bitcoin heists so far. However, despite being considered one of the safest ways to store bitcoins, paper wallet is far from foolproof.

Although the family had backed up the paper wallets and safe-kept them in the local bank, because the burglary took place at night, they had to wait until the next day before they could retrieve their backups and transfer the coins away. The author didnt reveal the specific amount, but he suggested that the amount was significant enough, saying that his father was an early adopter. They were so anxious that they stayed up the entire night.

The robbers had 9 hours to crack into it, figure out what the hell they were looking at (assuming he wasnt explicitly targeted) and then transfer the bitcoins off into their own address. We were both sweating bullets and did not sleep at all.

Fortunately, the thieves were neither aware of or tech-savvy enough to figure out what they laid their hands on. In the end, crisis averted and life back to normal. Am I then only one that saw the irony?

With Bitcoin, you can be your own bank this is many Bitcoiners belief as well as one of the central value propositions of Bitcoin as a currency. It carries two layers of meanings. First, Bitcoin allows people to transmit value among each other without involving a centralized authority and from any places in the world irrespective of jurisdictions and geographies; second, Bitcoin is supposed to allow people to store it secure enough so they never needed to go to a bank. This gives rise to the rather fanatic-sounding prediction of death of traditional banks. Now, it appears that banks offered Bitcoin a measure of security that they cannot get from anywhere else.

It is not only individual users, Coinbase, one of the most reputed Bitcoin companies, also used banks for the same purpose. According to the company: we can safely move about 90% of those funds offline. We do this by taking the sensitive data that would normally reside on our servers (the private keys which represent the actual bitcoins) and moving it to USB sticks and paper backups. We then take these to a safe deposit box at an actual bank.

Despite the cryptography that Bitcoin is based on, there are more ways than you can imagine to breach its security. It is vulnerable to hacking, as indicated by many heists indicated; more importantly, it is vulnerable to human foibles if you are the kind of people who often feel the need to reset your passwords, then you are most likely to find Bitcoin security challenging. In the world of Bitcoin, private key is the only link between you and your money. Unlike losing your bankcard, there is no authority to go to after you lose it Bitcoin is made for the most individualistic and fastidious with a determination of self-reliance. Failing that, you will have to settle with online wallet service, which are centralized and necessitates a certain degree of trust from you. But dont think that is the only risk. Lack of legal recognition means loss of bitcoin doesnt receive the same level of legal protection as other properties do. A thief can kidnap and torture for the private keys. Even in a world there were no such hideous crime, an almost insurmountable obstacle that would prevent Bitcoin from being adopted by the majority is that most of us are just not organized enough.

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Bitcoin, The Cryptography-based Currency Continues To Rely On Banks For Security

EB37 Thomas Spaas & Sin Jones: Is Bitcoin subject to VAT? (European consumer goods tax) – Video

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EB37 Thomas Spaas Sin Jones: Is Bitcoin subject to VAT? (European consumer goods tax)
Thomas Spaas, director of the Belgian Bitcoin Association and an international tax lawyer in Antwerp, and our regulatory affairs correspondent Sin Jones, join us to discuss a Swedish court...

By: Epicenter Bitcoin

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EB37 Thomas Spaas & Sin Jones: Is Bitcoin subject to VAT? (European consumer goods tax) - Video


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