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Category Archives: Bitcoin

Bitcoin drops out as sponsor of St. Pete bowl

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The Bitcoin Bowl is no more.

Sorry to just drop that bomb on you like that, but I've always been a firm believer that the best way to remove a bandage is to just rip that sucker right off. Yes, it's going to hurt, but the pain will be over sooner, and then the healing can truly begin.

Anyway, now that you've stopped crying, ESPN.com's Brett McMurphy reported on Wednesday night that Bitcoin was dropping out of its sponsorship deal with the bowl in St. Petersburg, Florida after only one year.

But what a year it was.

We'll always have our memories of the Bitcoin Bowl, which will live on from generation to generation. There will be songs written about the two touchdowns North Carolina State running back Matt Dayes scored in the third quarter to put the game out of reach, and children will be named after running back Shadrach Thornton, who defied the limits of the running back moniker and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass in the game.

And maybe one day a movie will be made about UCF's valuable comeback effort that fell just short in the 34-27 loss. I mean, if they could make two movies about the Spartans at Thermopylae, they can make one about the UCF Knights at Tropicana Field.

You were gone too soon, Bitcoin Bowl, but you shall never be forgotten.

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Bitcoin drops out as sponsor of St. Pete bowl

For bitcoin, 'golden moment' or fool's gold?

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The BIT may also represent a smart tool for investors who don't want to risk putting their money in the hands of exchanges (some of which have suffered scandals throughout bitcoin's young history), according to trader Brian Kelly.

"If you're going to put any real money into bitcoin the last thing you want to do is put any money on an exchange," he said. "This gives you that kind of security."

But even if some investors see the appeal of the BIT, it may soon have competition.

Investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have been pitching a bitcoin ETF for some time and are going through the regulatory process of applying through the SEC. Their fund, which would trade on the Nasdaq and have the ticker symbol "COIN," is seeking to list 1 million shares, according to a recent filing.

Read More Winklevoss twins: Bitcoin plunge a buying opp

While Kelly allowed that some traders may find the Winklevoss ETF more appealing because it does not trade on the OTC markets, he said he did not think that the added draw would be significant.

"Really, you are talking about technicalities. If you want to just buy bitcoin they are similar," he said.

For his part, Silbert was confident about the future success of BIT (and its first-mover advantage) compared to any would-be competitors. "The way we think about it is the race is already over," he said.

The "ultimate end goal" is to register BIT shares with the SEC, and trade the fund on the New York Stock Exchange, Silbert said, adding that he cannot give any assurances of what the future may hold.

Read MoreForget currency, bitcoin's tech is the revolution

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For bitcoin, 'golden moment' or fool's gold?

Bitcoin Trading Weekly Forecast: Dump City #bitcoin $btcusd Mar 24 – Video

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Bitcoin Trading Weekly Forecast: Dump City #bitcoin $btcusd Mar 24
I think the bitcoin is going down. From there, who knows. I think we could rally from 230, or we could just die. But I dunno, there #39;s an unusual amount of pump ponzi news out these days something...

By: Baller Trader

The rest is here:

Bitcoin Trading Weekly Forecast: Dump City #bitcoin $btcusd Mar 24 - Video

SoulConfiscator 005 Bitcoin Money Innovation Privacy Law Business Liberty Freedom Erik Voorhees – Video

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SoulConfiscator 005 Bitcoin Money Innovation Privacy Law Business Liberty Freedom Erik Voorhees
http://www.twitter.com/VanosEnigmA http://www.facebook.com/VanosEnigma http://www.twitter.com/CryptoEEV Thank you mucho meow for your donation: Bitcoin Address: 1FJ9ZZcnKqhiiYWNhbpBaqy9QQHTBSmsP8 ...

By: VanosEnigmA Enigmaisland

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SoulConfiscator 005 Bitcoin Money Innovation Privacy Law Business Liberty Freedom Erik Voorhees - Video

DevCore Boston 2015 l Open Discussion on R&D Goals & Challenges l Bitcoin Foundation – Video

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DevCore Boston 2015 l Open Discussion on R D Goals Challenges l Bitcoin Foundation
DevCore is a series of workshops set to host around the world for all developers interested in deepening their technical expertise to support the future development of Bitcoin Core. DevCore...

By: Bitcoin Foundation

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DevCore Boston 2015 l Open Discussion on R&D Goals & Challenges l Bitcoin Foundation - Video

Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoin during probe

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This week, another scandal marked the saga of Silk Road, the dark web marketplace thatpromised its buyers and sellers anonymity by way of encryption and bitcoins before it was shut down in 2013.

The US Department of Justice announced charges on Monday against two former federal agents accused of stealing large amounts of bitcoin during their investigation of Silk Road.Carl Force, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and Shaun Bridges, a special agent with theSecret Service, belonged to a Baltimore-based federal task force investigating thesite. Mr. Force was the lead undercover agent who communicated with Ross Ulbricht, the man pegged as Silk Road's founder and convicted in February on charges of money laundering, drug trafficking, and more for his role in overseeing Silk Road.

Now prosecutors say that Mr. Force used the aliases created during the investigation to extort $250,000 from Ulbricht. The also say he stole $90,000 in bitcoins that Ulbricht paid to an officially sanctioned alias used for the undercover investigation.

Mr. Bridges, meanwhile, diverted over $800,000 worth of bitcoin to his account during the operation, authorities say.

If there is one thing the rise and fall of Silk Road has revealed, it is just how easy it is to get caught using bitcoin. Thepeer-to-peer electronic payment system that bypasses banks, is not anonymous. In fact, despite numerous assertions to the contrary, it never was.

Created as recently as 2009, bitcoin gained notoriety in large part due to the mystique surrounding the Silk Road website, which was only accessible through an anonymous browsing network. Bitcoin was the only form of currency accepted on the site, so individuals trading in illicit goods and services made millions of dollars worth of bitcoin transactions each year.

But after Ulbright was tracked down through bitcoin transactions traced between the sites IP address and the wallets stored on his laptop, the jig was up. The myth that using bitcoin would allow criminals to avoid getting caught was officially dispelled. Instead of abandoning the digital currency however, bitcoin enthusiasts are leaning in and calling for greater regulation.

Its sad to see the public perception being affected by negative headlines," says Alex Waters, the founder of Coin.co, a private company that enables online merchants to accept bitcoin for their goods and services, in a phone interview. "It is a fascinating technology that can help humanity on a very large scale. Its a shame for people not to take it seriously because of the emphasis on its illicit use."

As more and more businesses begin to accept the bitcoin, advocates say, it is important that adequate regulatory laws be put in place.

The[Silk Road] case just brought attention to the fact that bitcoin is not anonymous. But there are more uses for it now. People are using it for different things, says Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, a digital asset exchange with support for bitcoin.

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Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoin during probe

2 federal agents charged with stealing Bitcoin

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Two federal agents who helped lead one of several investigations in the case allegedly decided they wanted some of the money for themselves, according to a new federal court documents.

The two now-former agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Secret Service are charged with wire fraud, money laundering and other offenses for allegedly stealing Bitcoin during the federal investigation of Silk Road, an underground illicit black market federal prosecutors shut down in 2013.

READ: 1 shot dead at Fort Meade

The charges in a criminal complaint filed in San Francisco federal court paints a picture of corrupt federal agents trying to enrich themselves as they tried to bring down one of the Internet's top cybercriminals.

The charges against the agents could end up causing complications for the government's case against Ross Ulbricht, also known as "Dread Pirate Roberts", the Silk Road founder. Ulbricht was found guilty last year of aiding drug trafficking with his site. He is awaiting sentencing. As a result of the case against Ulbricht and others, the federal government seized bitcoin that it said at the time was valued at more than $33 million.

The agents now facing charges led a Baltimore-based murder-for-hire case against Ulbricht, separate from the drugs-related charges on which he was found guilty. The murder-for-hire case remains pending. Prosecutors identified the agents as Carl Force, 46 years old, of Baltimore, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, and Shaun Bridges, 32, of Laurel, Maryland, a special agent with the U.S. Secret Service.

Force was a lead agent in the case and was the main investigator communicating with Ulbricht. Force is charged with wire fraud, theft of government property, money laundering and conflict of interest.

Bridges was the computer forensics expert on the case. He is charged with wire fraud and money laundering.

Force allegedly set up fake online personas and tried to extort money from Ulbricht, including once trying to get $250,000 from him in exchange for not providing information to federal investigators, the criminal complaint says.

Using the online persona "French Maid," Force did succeed in getting $100,000 in Bitcoin from Ulbricht, which Force deposited in his personal accounts, the federal complaint says. He later used a series of Bitcoin and personal U.S. dollar transactions, including a $235,000 wire transfer to an account in Panama, to launder the stolen money, prosecutors allege in the complaint.

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2 federal agents charged with stealing Bitcoin

Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoin

Posted on by

This week, another scandal marked the saga of Silk Road, the dark web marketplace thatpromised its buyers and sellers anonymity by way of encryption and bitcoins before it was shut down in 2013.

The US Department of Justice announced charges on Monday against two former federal agents accused of stealing large amounts of bitcoin during their investigation of Silk Road.Carl Force, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, and Shaun Bridges, a special agent with theSecret Service, belonged to a Baltimore-based federal task force investigating thesite. Mr. Force was the lead undercover agent who communicated with Ross Ulbricht, the man pegged as Silk Road's founder and convicted in February on charges of money laundering, drug trafficking, and more for his role in overseeing Silk Road.

Now prosecutors say that Mr. Force used the aliases created during the investigation to extort $250,000 from Ulbricht. The also say he stole $90,000 in bitcoins that Ulbricht paid to an officially sanctioned alias used for the undercover investigation.

Mr. Bridges, meanwhile, diverted over $800,000 worth of bitcoin to his account during the operation, authorities say.

If there is one thing the rise and fall of Silk Road has revealed, it is just how easy it is to get caught using bitcoin. Thepeer-to-peer electronic payment system that bypasses banks, is not anonymous. In fact, despite numerous assertions to the contrary, it never was.

Created as recently as 2009, bitcoin gained notoriety in large part due to the mystique surrounding the Silk Road website, which was only accessible through an anonymous browsing network. Bitcoin was the only form of currency accepted on the site, so individuals trading in illicit goods and services made millions of dollars worth of bitcoin transactions each year.

But after Ulbright was tracked down through bitcoin transactions traced between the sites IP address and the wallets stored on his laptop, the jig was up. The myth that using bitcoin would allow criminals to avoid getting caught was officially dispelled. Instead of abandoning the digital currency however, bitcoin enthusiasts are leaning in and calling for greater regulation.

Its sad to see the public perception being affected by negative headlines," says Alex Waters, the founder of Coin.co, a private company that enables online merchants to accept bitcoin for their goods and services, in a phone interview. "It is a fascinating technology that can help humanity on a very large scale. Its a shame for people not to take it seriously because of the emphasis on its illicit use."

As more and more businesses begin to accept the bitcoin, advocates say, it is important that adequate regulatory laws be put in place.

The[Silk Road] case just brought attention to the fact that bitcoin is not anonymous. But there are more uses for it now. People are using it for different things, says Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, a digital asset exchange with support for bitcoin.

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Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoin

The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Tuesday, March 31

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Silk Road investigators charged with stealing bitcoin

Virtual evidence is no less tempting to a corrupt agent than cash or drugs found in a raid: Two former US federal agents face charges related to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin in the course of investigating the Silk Road marketplace. A former DEA special agent, who worked undercover to cultivate a relationship with recently convicted Ross Ulbricht, allegedly used online personas to engage in complex bitcoin transactions to steal both from the government and the targets of the investigation. And a former Secret Service agent who served as a computer forensics expert allegedly took more than $800,000 in digital currency that he gained control of during the Silk Road investigationand put it in his account at now-defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox.

Intel wants to quadruple SSD storage capacity

Everyone wants more storage capacity on their mobile devices without making them any larger, and Intel is working on it: one effort underway is to stuff more bits in a single cell, which could quadruple solid-state drive capacity. The technique that Intel calls QLC (quad-level cell) could put 10TB of storage on standard 2.5-inch drives. Intel said QLC is still at the research stage, and didnt provide a timeline for the release of flash chips based on the technology.

Smartwatch segment to grow 500% in 2015, says IDC

The buzz around the Apple Watch will help fuel 500 percent growth in smartwatch shipments this year, says IDC. The market researcher expects Apple to take 62 percent of the market, even as it lowered its forecast from 22 million to 15.9 million units shipped thanks to a later on-sale date than was expected. IDC sees 25.7 million smart wearables shipping this year, quite a bit less than the 40 million rival researcher Gartner is forecasting.

Samsung, LG call a truce

Silicon Valley executives may believe in unicorns but they probably dont believe theres a land where two bitter rivals decide to end legal action against each other because the petty dispute is wasting everyones time and money. But there is such a place, and its called South Korea: Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have made up over an incident where an executive from LG was charged with deliberately damaging Samsungs new washing machines ahead of a trade show. The companies said in a joint statement they had decided to bury their differences and focus on improving their services and products. And for good measure, the two companies have also ended a dispute over the alleged theft of OLED technology.

IBM putting $3 billion into new IoT unit

IBM wants to claim a bigger piece of the emerging Internet of things market, and to do that it will invest US$3 billion over four years to establish a new business unit. Chris OConnor will run the group, which is going after customers in travel, logistics, insurance, public utilities, transportation and retail.

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The Upload: Your tech news briefing for Tuesday, March 31


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