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Bitcoin in China still chugging along, a year after clampdown

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A year after China began tightening regulations around Bitcoin, the virtual currency is still thriving in the country, albeit on the fringes, according to its largest exchange.

Bitcoin prices may have declined, but Chinese buyers are still trading the currency in high volumes with the help of BTC China, an exchange that witnessed the boom days back in 2013, only to see the bust following the Chinese governments announcement, in December of that year, that banks would be banned from trading in bitcoin.

This eventually led to a clampdown that scared customers away from the currency, and threw a wrench in the business of local exchanges, including BTC China.

Although financial institutions are banned from dealing in bitcoins, the virtual currency is still legal, and can be traded by individuals willing to take on risk, according to the government. Thats given BTC China enough room to operate, deploying a network of people reselling special vouchers that can be exchanged for bitcoins.

The practice has helped BTC China not only stay afloat, but become the exchange with the largest trading volume, according to bitcoincharts.com.

That doesnt mean bitcoin is gaining steam as a currency used to buy goods. Since the government clampdown, the Chinese bitcoin market has matured into one thats focused on speculative trading, said Bobby Lee, CEO of BTC China.

So its very much about people coming to use the platform as a trading vehicle to make money, he added.

About 65 percent of all bitcoin trades are made with the Chinese yuan, according to bitcoincharts.com. Some of these deals involve arbitrage bots, or software thats designed to make a profit from price differences among the different exchanges.

Theres a huge contingent out from Russia that will buy on BTC, and that will cause the price of bitcoin to go up, Lee added.

To expand its business, BTC China has launched a bitcoin mining pool, so that multiple buyers can work together to mine the virtual currency, and share the profit. But attempting to bring bitcoin to a wider audience in China isnt expected to be easy.

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Bitcoin in China still chugging along, a year after clampdown

2 former feds 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 former feds charged with stealing Bitcoin

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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Agents charged with stealing Bitcoin

Two Former Federal Agents Charged With Stealing Bitcoin During Silk Road Investigation

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Image Credit: Associated Press

Two former federal agents have been charged with stealing Bitcoin for their own personal gain while working undercover to help unmask Ross Ulbricht, the convicted mastermind behind the drug trafficking website.

The two agents were both members of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which helped conduct the investigation that led to the seizure of the Silk Road servers and Ross Ulbrichts arrest in October 2013. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Carl Mark Force IV, 46, was charged with wire fraud, theft of government property and money laundering. Maryland Secret Service agent Shaun Bridges, 32, wascharged with wire fraud and money laundering.

The lengthy account of how Force and Bridges allegedly abused their roles as federal agents during the Silk Road investigation was never mentioned in Ulbrichts trial, which began in January in New York City. After a month-long trial, Ulbricht was found guilty of creating and running the Silk Road after less than four hours of jury deliberation. He faces sentencing in May, unless an appeal for a new trial filed earlier this month is granted. After the criminal complaint against Force and Bridges was unsealed on Monday, Ulbrichts lawyer Joshua Dratel tweeted:

The Department of Justices 50-page complaint unsealed Monday details a wide range of alleged corrupt actsfrom Force and Bridges during the Silk Road investigationfrom creating unauthorized undercover personas, to extorting Bitcoins from Ulbricht in exchange for information, and forging a subpoena for Venmo.

Force and Bridges abused their positions as federal agents and engaged in a scheme to defraud a variety of third-parties, the public, and the government, all for their own financial enrichment, the complaint reads.

Forces charges are tied to his actions while undercover on the Silk Road towards the end of his 15-year career as a special agent. As part of the Silk Road investigation, Force went undercover as Nob, an imaginary drug smuggler in the United States with global criminal connections, in order to communicate with the Dread Pirate Roberts (Ulbrichts monikeron the Silk Road). Force interacted with DPR asinstructed, but allegedly took his communications with DPR much further than he reported back to the DEA, according to the criminal complaint. After the Silk Road servers were seized in October 2013, the feds discovered that Nob had had many encrypted conversations with DPR that were never officially recorded.

One of Nobs cover stories on the Silk Road was, ironically, that he had access to Kevin, a corrupt government employee who worked for the Department of Justice but gave Nob information about the Silk Road investigation. Most of Nobs conversations with DPR about Kevin were encrypted, except one revealing message. In August 2013, DPR allegedly wrote Nob, I could not decrypt your second message, got an error. I could decrypt the first, and have sent the 525 btc as requested. Nob responded, telling DPR to use PGP and the two continued to chat. In his DEA file about Kevin and the conversation with DPR, Force included an agents note that said: DPR made no such payment. According to the complaint, however, DPR allegedly paid Force twice in Bitcoin400 Bitcoins for fraudulent identification documents in June 2013, and 525 Bitcoins for Kevins inside information in August 2013.

Forces alleged communication with DPR didnt end with Nob, and Force allegedly used two other unauthorized personas French Maid and Death From Above. Ulbricht allegedly paid French Maid approximately $100,000 in bitcoins in exchange for a name that French Maid claimedMark Karpeles had given to law enforcement. Karpeles was then CEO of Mt. Gox digital currency exchange, and the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force was trying to interview him about the Silk Road. (In Ulbrichts trial, a special agent revealed on the stand that the FBI considered Karpeles as a possible suspect before pursuing Ulbricht as the Silk Road mastermind). The complaint lists several reasons that French Maid and Nob were believed to be the same person (aka Force): the investigation into Karpeles was privileged information, both Nob and French Maid used the same outdated PGP software, and the 770 bitcoins paid to French Maid ended up in Forces personal account. Force used his third persona, Death From Above, to allegedly attempt to solicit $250,000 from DPR in exchange for personal identifying details about one of the Homeland Securitys possible Silk Road suspects. The complaint details other alleged misconduct by Force, including subpoenaing Venmo to unfreeze his personal account.

In addition to his work undercover work, Force worked extensively with former Secret Service agent Bridges, who was also on the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force. The complaint details how Force worked with Bridges to allegedly steal Bitcoins from the Silk Road, transfer them to an account with Mt. Gox, and then remove the money just before Bridges served a seizure warrant on the Bitcoin exchange. Because Bridges was the Baltimore Silk Road Task Forces Bitcoin and Tor expert, he was the affiant on many seizure warrants related to digital currency, including the $2.1 million seizure of Mt. Gox.

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Two Former Federal Agents Charged With Stealing Bitcoin During Silk Road Investigation

Everybody Has a Story with Patrick Murck, Executive Director of The Bitcoin Foundation – Video

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Everybody Has a Story with Patrick Murck, Executive Director of The Bitcoin Foundation
The Official YouTube channel of the Yale Daily News: America #39;s Oldest College Daily newspaper. Questions? Contact the Yale Daily News YTV Editors, Isabel McCullough, Steffina Yuli and Michael...

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Everybody Has a Story with Patrick Murck, Executive Director of The Bitcoin Foundation - Video

SoulConfiscator 009 Bitcoin Wallet InfoSec CryptoCurrency BTC4 Game Espaol English VideoMix – Video

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SoulConfiscator 009 Bitcoin Wallet InfoSec CryptoCurrency BTC4 Game Espaol English VideoMix
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 009 Bitcoin Wallet InfoSec CryptoCurrency BTC4 Game Espaol English VideoMix - Video

Free BitCoin Earning App For Android. – "Make Free And Easy Money" – Video

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Free BitCoin Earning App For Android. - "Make Free And Easy Money"
App Download Link : http://sh.st/gsGK5 "BitCoin Earner" is a free android app for dispensing BTC from #39;Faucets #39; ( Websites that offer a simple form to fill with your public BTC wallet address,...

By: jeremygwa

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Free BitCoin Earning App For Android. - "Make Free And Easy Money" - Video

ShapeShift Service: Converting BitCoin to VeriCoin from Circle Wallet – Video

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ShapeShift Service: Converting BitCoin to VeriCoin from Circle Wallet
(Our Videos are Best Viewed in 720p HD) * Please Like, Subscribe and Share. Thank you! In this video a Community Member shows how easy it is to use ShapeShift to convert one Digital Currency...

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ShapeShift Service: Converting BitCoin to VeriCoin from Circle Wallet - Video

Bitcoin Wallet by Airbitz

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Powerful and easy to use Bitcoin Wallet allowing users to easily control their own bitcoin private keys with the familiarity and ease of mobile banking.Take control of your funds! With Airbitz, only YOU have access to your funds or transaction data. Neither Airbitz or any 3rd party can access your money or data. You get the financial privacy and autonomy Bitcoin was designed for with the ease of use even grandma could handle.With a focus on delivering an amazing user experience, the Airbitz wallet provides the following great functionality: Zero-knowledge & zero-access to user funds, keys, or transaction data by Airbitz or 3rd parties Pay using Bluetooth (BLE) without needing QR codes Simple account creation using just a login & password (no printing of PDFs, writing down pass phrases, or adding encryption settings) Automatic encrypted wallet backup to redundant peer-to-peer cloud servers One-Touch 2-Factor Authentication for the easiest-to-secure wallet in the world Quickly switch accounts with username drop down on login screens Multi-device synchronization across iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices Hierarchical Deterministic wallets with changing addresses per transaction Multiple wallets per account with simple user defined wallet names (ie. Vacation Fund) Multiple fiat currency support. Assign a fiat currency per wallet Search transactions by payee, category, or notes Built in calculator for easy conversions Merchant Mode enabling easy and fluid UI behind the counter Partial payment detection creates a new QR code payment request with remaining balance Daily spending limits (require password to spend above limit) PIN-requiring spending limits Two-tap quick UI to transfer funds between wallets Import funds from WIF or Casascius private keys Decentralized server architecture. Wallets work even if Airbitz servers are down. Integration with the Airbitz Business directory to auto-complete business information for transactions including business logo/photo Integration with address book to auto-complete payee name and photo Open-source code. Available on http://github.com/Airbitz********* Privacy Notice *********The Airbitz application requests access to the device contact list, location, and personal information. This information is used on the device to provide an improved user experience in the following ways:1. Autocomplete contacts from the user's address book after a transaction2. Autocomplete contacts from the user's address book to send Email or SMS payment requests3. Autocomplete business listings names after a transaction4. Geolocate user's device to find nearby businessesNo personal info or contact list info ever leaves the device without first being encrypted by the user's credentials (username/password). Neither Airbitz nor any 3rd party has knowledge of the information accessed by the application.

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Bitcoin Wallet by Airbitz

DevCore Boston 2015 l Mastering Bitcoin l Andreas M. Antonopoulos – Video

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DevCore Boston 2015 l Mastering Bitcoin l Andreas M. Antonopoulos
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 Mastering Bitcoin l Andreas M. Antonopoulos - Video


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