Daily Archives: July 27, 2017

NSA Southwest World Series gets underway Thursday in Prescott – CVR News

Posted: July 27, 2017 at 10:01 am

Featuring throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms, the Arizona Batbusters are introduced at opening ceremonies for the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series at Pioneer Park on Wednesday, July 26, 2017, in Prescott. (Les Stukenberg/Courier)

Over 300 players dawning uniforms from 27 different clubs calling Arizona and its surrounding states home gathered for opening ceremonies of the 2017 NSA Southwest World Series on Wednesday night.

Home to many youth softball tournaments throughout the summer and national championship contests in years past, Pioneer Park in Prescott featured standing room only with parents and family members applauding their hometown teams in preparation for a four-day event beginning today.

Dale Pool, tournament director for the Southwest World Series, said for the Prescott area, this weekend not only brings great economic impact to the community, but a chance for the young players to make lifelong memories.

For the girls, this gives them the chance to see teams from other states, California, Nevada, or from around the state. They may meet again in other tournaments, or play in college, Pool said, adding its fun to see some of the same players return to Prescott every year.

Its wonderful to see these girls grow, not only as players, but as individuals and the great sportsmanship that they display, Pool said.

One team stood out in particular Wednesday night, wearing throwback Rockford Peaches uniforms from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, featured in the movie, A League of their Own.

Peyton Bradshaw, 15, of the Arizona Batbusters said wearing the Rockford Peaches uniforms is a tribute to the women who came before them.

As for their own chances of winning this weekends tournament, Bradshaw said her teammates are looking forward to kicking butt.

We need to go in, play hard, and focus on winning, Bradshaw said.

The Arizona Batbusters open the Southwest World Series with a pair of games in the early Thursday morning as they face AZ As Demarini Elite at 8 a.m. and Storm Fastpitch at 9:30 a.m.

Quad City Clovers third baseman Brena Lankford, 13, was the 2017 recipient of the National Softball Associations $1,000 college scholarship Wednesday night.

I was shocked. I couldnt believe it. I was really happy, Lankford said after hearing her name called over the loud speaker.

The Clovers open the tournament with a 9:30 a.m. contest Thursday against the Firecrackers.

Lankford added this years Southwest World Series gives her team a chance to take a break from the regular grind of club softball travel and just play ball.

Its fun with all the girls, and were pretty good, Lankford said. Its local, so fun.

Brian M. Bergner Jr. is associate sports editor and a columnist for The Daily Courier. Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope and SoundCloud at @SportsWriter52, or on Facebook at @SportsAboveTheFold. Reach him at bbergner@prescottaz.com or 928-445-3333, ext. 1106.

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NSA Southwest World Series gets underway Thursday in Prescott - CVR News

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Doklam standoff: NSA Doval in Beijing amid PLA unease over Indian ‘trespass’ – Hindustan Times

Posted: at 10:01 am

Indias national security adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval might not have much room to maneuvre when, and if, he sits down with Chinese officials on Thursday or Friday to start a conversation to resolve the military stand-off near the Sikkim border.

Doval landed in Beijing on Wednesday afternoon to attend a BRICS security summit and is scheduled to meet President Xi Jinping on Friday along with his NSA counterparts from the BRICS countries, including Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa.

But the focus will be on whether Dovals separate meetings with Chinese officials, including state councilor Yang Jiechi, will be able to resolve or at least begin to ease -- the Donglang (Doklam) standoff, which is now into its second month.

What is likely to complicate the situation further is the Peoples Liberation Armys (PLA) 90th anniversary on August 1.

A Chinese academic indicated that there is unease and anger within the PLA hierarchy about allowing foreign troops on Chinese soil even as the worlds largest armed forces gather to mark their raising day.

Donglang is under Chinas control but claimed by Bhutan. Beijing has repeatedly said it belonged to China from ancient times.

According to reports, President Xi Jinping the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPEC) and the chairperson of the Central Military Commission -- will observe the war games at Zhurihe Combined Tactics Training Base, 400km northwest of Beijing in Inner Mongolia, on August 1.

The PLA will certainly not be comfortable with the message that will go out if trespassing Indian troops continue to be present in Donglang while Xi -- the all-powerful Communist party general secretary -- is observing PLAs wargames on its birthday.

Its easier to shake a mountain than the PLA, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the ministry of national defence (MoD), said Monday.

Referring to Wus comments, the countrys official news agency, Xinhua, said, ...these words illustrated Chinas unwavering resolution to build a stronger army and guard the countrys sovereignty.

The Chinese academic indicated the possibility of a disaster if Indian troops dont withdraw before the day.

Doval would have been aware of this when he arrived here.

It is one of the longest-running face-offs between the militaries of India and China in recent history and the one in which Beijing has been most aggressive in decades.

The show of belligerence from China has so far comprised three main acts strong statements from the ministry of foreign affairs (MFA) and the MoD, a constant salvo of hostile editorials and articles from state-controlled media outlets and the calibrated release of information, photos and videos of military exercises in and around the Tibet Autonomous Region

Doval seems to have little scope to maneuvre as Beijing has made it clear what it wants for the standoff to end: withdrawal of Indian troops.

So far, foreign minister, Wang Yi has been the highest ranking Chinese politician to have commented on the military impasse.

Wang told reporters in Bangkok earlier this week that the problem was very straightforward.

...Even Indian officials publicly said that Chinese soldiers didnt enter the Indian territory. In other words, Indian side admitted (crossing) into Chinese territory.

Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the tension will be quickly reduced once Indian troops pull out from Donglang.

This time, China and its top leaders feel humiliated badly by Indias adventurism and invasion, he said, adding, How can China withdraw? It (the standoff) is in Chinese territory according to the 1890 treaty (signed between Chinas Qing dynasty and British India).

Dovals visit is important in the run-up to the BRICS summit to be held in Chinas Xiamen city in the first week of September, which will be attended by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

On Friday, the five heads of security delegations from the BRICS countries will formally meet to discuss on global governance, counter-terrorism, cyber security and energy security, international and regional hotspots, and national security and development.

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Section 702 surveillance should not be extended until the Fourth Amendment is honored – Washington Times

Posted: at 9:58 am

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008 (FAA) authorizes the government to seize and search the international communications of American citizens without probable cause or warrants in violation of the Fourth Amendment. It should not be extended beyond its current expiration date of December 31, 2017 unless Congress cures its constitutional infirmity.

Members of Congress are bound by oath or affirmation to uphold and defend the Constitution period; no commas, semicolons, or question marks. The murderous abominations of the 9/11 terror attacks changed nothing on that score.

The Supreme Court admonished in Ex Parte Milligan:

The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times and under all circumstances. No doctrine involving more pernicious consequences was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism

As a cornerstone of our liberty-centered constitutional universe, the Fourth Amendment makes citizen privacy the rule and government encroachments the exception. Warrants issued by neutral magistrates based upon probable cause with particularized evidence that crime is afoot are ordinarily required to justify government invasions of privacy.

In the narrow circumstances that excuse warrants, a government search or seizure must still satisfy a standard of reasonableness.

Justice Louis D. Brandeis elaborated in Olmstead v. United States (dissenting):

The makers of our Constitutionsought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The American Revolution was ignited by opposition to hated British Writs of Assistance, general search warrants that empowered every petty colonial official to rummage through homes or businesses in search of smuggled goods. An address by William Pitt the Elder to the British Parliament thundered throughout the colonies, and epitomized the spirit of the Amendment:

The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storms may enter, the rain may enter, but the King of England cannot enter; all his forces dare not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.

Speaking through Justice Antonin Scalia, the Supreme Court decreed in Kyllo v. United States that the Fourth Amendment today should be interpreted should be adapted to secure that degree of privacy against government that existed when the Fourth Amendment was adopted notwithstanding staggering advances in technology. At that time, government encroachments on privacy were minimal. Federal criminal laws were few. Investigations were minimal. And no intelligence community existed to snoop on Americans to gather foreign intelligence.

Section 702 authorizes invasions of citizen privacy orders of magnitude beyond the degree of privacy that existed when the Fourth Amendment was ratified in 1791. It empowers the National Security Agency singly or in conjunction with sister intelligence agencies to intercept, store and search the international communications of U.S. persons with a targeted communicant reasonably thought to be located outside the United States and in possession of foreign intelligence information.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) does not review each discrete NSA interception to insure the target is a foreigner outside the United States or that the communications intercepted relate to foreign intelligence, including international terrorism. Instead, the FISC simply approves annually surveillance procedures that the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence certify are calculated to target only foreigners located abroad for foreign intelligence purposes. The latter is broadly defined to include any information that relates to the foreign affairs of the United States.

The government has employed section 702 to collect more than 250 million internet transactions annually as of 2011, which includes communications between two foreigners as well as those involving a U.S. person. According to an affidavit of Bill Binney, former high-level NSA official and perhaps the foremost expert in the world on electronic surveillance:

When I was at the NSA, each analyst was theoretically required to review 40,000 to 50,000 questionable records each day. The analyst gets overwhelmed, and the actual known targets from the metadata analysis get ignoredThe NSA cannot identify future terrorism because 99.9999% of what it collects and analyzes is foreseeably irrelevant.

The intelligence community is clueless as to how many of the 250 million annual internet warrantless interceptions under section 702 involve the international communications of U.S. persons. But the Fourth Amendment vice does not cease after the seizures. The communications are typically stored for at least five years and searched without warrants or probable cause for either to discover foreign intelligence or evidence of crime a second Fourth Amendment transgression.

Supreme Court decisions establish that the government must obtain a warrant that satisfies the Fourth Amendment to intercept or search the contents of communications of U.S. persons for either criminal justice or domestic security purposes. The high court has not approved an exception when the communications are seized and searched pursuant to section 702 for law enforcement or foreign intelligence purposes.

Title III wiretap orders under the Omnibus Crime Control Act are vastly less intrusive on privacy. They require a warrant that satisfies the Fourth Amendment by specifying the phone line to be tapped, the conversations to be seized, and the crime under investigation. Moreover, reasonable measures must be taken by the government to avoid recording innocent conversations. And the targets of the warrants and their communicants are typically notified of the wiretap within 90 days of its termination to enable them to challenge its legality.

In contrast, surveillance under section 702 does not require a warrant. It does not require probable cause. It does not require suspicion of criminality. It is not confined to communications involving only foreign powers or their agents. There is no mechanism for monitoring the seizure of the communications to exclude those portions irrelevant to foreign intelligence. And the communicants whose conversations are intercepted, stored, and searched are not notified of the invasions of privacy unless they are lead to a criminal prosecution.

In the vast majority of cases, U.S. persons will never learn that the privacy of their international communications had been compromised.

Even if no warrant were required under the Fourth Amendment for the seizure, storage and search of the international communications of U.S. persons under section 702, it would still fail the reasonableness test.

While the government interest in national security is of the highest order, Section 702 sweeps far more broadly to include anything relevant to the foreign policy of the United States, for example, the emission of greenhouse gases or free trade agreements. It also authorizes searches of citizen communications for crimes unrelated to national security and not based on probable cause. And as Bill Binneys affidavit underscored, the stupendous volume of communications capture by section 702 cripples the NSAs ability to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Proponents of extending Section 702 argue that government officials have refrained from using its alarming powers to oppress U.S. persons. But as Thomas Jefferson advised, In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

Moreover, Justice Brandeis correctly taught that, every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment.

In sum, Section 702 should not be extended unless it requires a warrant to seize or search international communications of U.S. persons based upon probable cause to believe they contain evidence of international terrorism and with particularity describe the means of seizing or searching the communications. Further, U.S. persons should be notified within 90 days of any interception or search.

The Fourth Amendment is too important to be left to the intelligence community.

[This is the first of a series of articles on extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008 scheduled to expire December 31, 2017]

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Section 702 surveillance should not be extended until the Fourth Amendment is honored - Washington Times

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Buy/Sell with Cryptocurrency

Posted: at 9:52 am

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Buy/Sell with Cryptocurrency

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Startups’ Cryptocurrency Fundraising Loophole Gets a Regulatory … – WIRED

Posted: at 9:52 am

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) headquarters building stands in Washington, D.C.

Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Cryptocurrency was invented by people who didnt much like regulators, but red tape can still bind the technology that enables it, blockchains. Fresh proof comes from a pronouncement from the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday. It said that regulations applying to investments such as stocks also apply to some initial coin offerings, a novel approach to fundraising that startups have used to draw in more than $1 billion this year.

Described simply, an ICO sounds like a childish money making scheme. A person, project, or company in need of capital creates a new kind of digital coin and sells a tranche of them for real money. Magic! The coins are created using the same kind of technology behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, and usually paid for using digital currency, not dollars.

ICO boosters describe them as a democratizing financial force that provides capital to projects unlikely to get it from established sources such as banks or venture capitalists. The SECs announcement means that some projects will now have to pay up for the lawyers, disclosures, and paperwork required to register with the SEC before they can solicit money from Americans.

That news was widely expected, but could cool a fever that even proponents of ICOs say risks leading people to stake money on poorly planned, or even outright fraudulent projects. You had a mix of serious teams with good developers and track records and then a bunch of entrants looking for a get rich quick scheme, says Christian Catalini, an MIT professor who has been studying ICOs, and considers them a valuable financial innovation. I think the SEC is worried that many people dont realize its like gambling; many or most of ICOs will go to zero.

So why would you buy into one of these schemes? Often because the brand new coin, or token, youre offered today is supposed to have some kind of utility or value tomorrow.

In May, browser company Brave raised $35 million in less than 30 seconds by selling one billion units of what it calls Basic Attention Tokens, for example. The tokens are intended to be used inside a new market for monetizing online publishing and advertising. Buying in early might give you a chance to shape that market and get better deals on ads than you could by joining up once it takes off. Another reason ICOs have proved popular is that you can usually trade the tokens you just bought right away with other people, offering liquidity you dont usually get when backing early stage startups.

If youre thinking all that sounds similar to how companies already sell shares or other tradeable things to investors, youre thinking like the SEC. An Investor Bulletin issued late Tuesday warned that while ICOs may provide fair and lawful investment opportunities, they can also be used improperly to entice investors with the promise of high returns in a new investment space. To avoid that downside, the SEC says that from now on some ICOs will have to meet the same standards applied to non-crypto securities such as stock offerings. That means registering with the SEC and disclosing information about the investment vehicle and its risks. The policy announcement was prompted by an investigation of Ethereum-based investment scheme The Dao, which attracted $150 million-worth of funding and then saw a third of it stolen by a hacker who exploited sloppy coding.

The new guidance was expected. But its arrival, and the fact that the SEC didnt lay out exact criteria for what would make an ICO a security (or not), makes the business of launching a new ICO in the U.S. more complicated. Wannabe token issuers now face the task of figuring out if their scheme falls under existing securities laws. If it does, theyll have to go to the trouble of registering it with the SEC. Bruce Fenton, founder of blockchain-focused investment advisors Atlantic Financial, says that the legal and administrative fees to do that can cost anywhere from $20,000 to the millions of dollars for more complex operations.

The extra friction will probably slow the pace of new ICOs. Startups raised more than $1.2 billion with ICOs in the first half of 2017, according to financial research company Autonomous. Catalini of MIT thinks a deceleration would not be a bad thing, because recent excitement about ICOs has created a situation where teams with not much of a product, plan, or technology can rapidly raise millions.

Even the valuations of the credible ones are astronomical for an early stage startup, Catalini says. The SEC doesnt want people to put their savings into this who cannot afford to lose them. He believes the frenzy has been stoked by millions flowing into ICOs from people who lucked out and got into Bitcoin and Ethereum early, giving them a lot of unexpected capital to play with.

What next for ICOs? They arent going away, but they may become more select. Catalini guesses that the evolution will be similar to that seen with equity crowdfunding, where startups solicit money in small chunks from many people. The SEC moved to allow that in 2015, triggering excitement about a radical new grassroots funding model for companies. In reality, Catalini says his research indicates crowdfunding that targets accredited investorsa status that requires a net worth of $1 million or a hefty incomehas been much more significant. Targeting only accredited investors can help you avoid having to register your security with the SEC.

Many people in the cryptocurrency world see yesterdays news from the SEC as legitimizing, not constraining. After all, recognition by the SEC might draw in more investors previously unsure about ICOs. Coin Center, a Washington, DC, nonprofit that advocates for cryptocurrencies, says the decision matches up with a regulatory framework it proposed two years ago. It also notes that what the SEC has said leaves plenty of latitude for ICOs to avoid it being categorized as a security. Restricting who can invest is one way; non-profit projects can get also exemptions.

Fenton says any dip in ICO activity caused by the SECs announcement wont much alter the overall trajectory of ICOs. The number of ICOs is likely to grow almost regardless of what roadblocks may slightly slow it down, he says. Overall the space will grow fast, including the market of tokens that are registered securities. Evidence cryptocurrencies will radically disrupt the financial system as some have hoped is still lacking, but they are managing to survive within it.

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Philippines Government yet to Approve Cryptocurrency Exchange … – Bitcoin News (press release)

Posted: at 9:52 am

Philippine business press, Businessmirror, has reported that the government has been yet to approve a single virtual currency exchange application. The Philippine central bank, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, introduced regulations for virtual currencies earlier this year which focussed heavily on creating guidelines for the operations of cryptocurrency exchanges.

Also Read:Philippines Central Bank Issues Guidelines for Virtual Currency Exchanges

The Philippine Central Banks Supervision and Examination Sector told Businessmirror that it has not approved any applications for entities seeking to register and establish cryptocurrency exchanges. It has also been revealed that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has so far received less than 10 applications.

BSP representative, Chuchi Fonacier stated that increased Filipino bitcoin adoption had prompted the development of cryptocurrency regulations. We have observed acceleration in transaction volume based on our survey of top industry players last year, prompting us to institute a regulatory framework. We have no updated statistics to date, as these will come from the regular reports that registered entities will submit to the BSP.

The Philipines bitcoin regulations focus upon articulating a juridical framework for the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges, in addition to providing an inclusive regulatory apparatus for cryptocurrency-based remittance services.We want to maximize the benefits from this technological innovation, while adequately managing the risks that come with it. Virtual currencies can help accelerate the delivery of financial services [e.g., payments and remittance] and lower the cost of transactions, which is consistent with our broader financial-inclusion agenda, Fonacier said.

Officials have consistently iterated the Philippines governments intention to simultaneously foster growth and innovation in the cryptocurrency industries, whilst restricting the risk of bitcoin being used for money-laundering or terrorist financing activities. We are particularly keen on addressing money-laundering risk, that is why part of the responsibilities of a virtual-currency exchange is to comply with established anti-money laundering rules, such as know-your-client procedures, as well as proper reporting to the AMLC [Anti-Money Laundering Council].

Despite local press describing the Philippines stance toward bitcoin as a first of its kind in Asia, the regulatory apparatus developed by the BSP appears to be limited in its scope. The regulations focus heavily on providing guidelines for the operation of virtual currency exchanges, yet have largely neglected to develop regulatory or taxation frameworks for general cryptocurrency use or mining. There has also been little effort made to promote and educate Filipino citizens about cryptocurrency, which will be vital for greater Filipino bitcoin adoption as only one in three Filipino citizens is reported to have access to the internet. Furthermore, the BSP has designed regulations so as to monitor the Filipino bitcoin economy through mandatory reporting submitted by virtual currency-based businesses of which the BSP is yet to approve a single application.

Do you think that the Philippines virtual currency regulations are failing to attract and foster investment in the cryptocurrency industries? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock

Do you want to talk about bitcoin in a comfortable (and censorship-free) environment? Check out theBitcoin.com Forums all the big players in Bitcoin have posted there, and we welcome all opinions.

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Philippines Government yet to Approve Cryptocurrency Exchange ... - Bitcoin News (press release)

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AMD backs off cryptocurrency even as demand grows – CIO Dive

Posted: at 9:52 am

Dive Brief:

AMD's CEO said Wednesday that the company does not consider cryptocurrency a long-term growth driver, despite rising demand, according to Business Insider. The company will continue to focus on gaming, its bread and butter.

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, made the remarks following the release of the company's earnings report. AMD reported higher than expected earnings and revenue, pushing the company's stock up 8%.

Su said the company would "continue to watch the developments around the blockchain technologies as they go forward," but will not include cryptocurrency in their forecast.

Companies like IBM and Microsoft have made big leaps into the cryptocurrency space, so it's surprising to see AMD backing off a bit.

Demand for chips that can be used to help with complex blockchain computing processes are on the rise, so the company could be bypassing a lucrative opportunity.The company's biggest challenger,Nvidia, is building a chip for computers that can be used in cryptocurrencynetworks.

AMD's cautious approach is fueled in part by some of the negative connections to blockchain technology. AMD may simply be trying to distance itself from any negative connotations until the dust settles.

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Russia’s cryptocurrency legislation to resemble that of Japan, US – FinanceFeeds (blog)

Posted: at 9:52 am

Russian legislators are trying to use elements of the New York licensing system and Japanese laws to shape Russias cryptocurrency legislation.

Russia is working on its own legislation for cryptocurrencies and is actively examining the expertise of other nations in this respect, according to Russias Internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev.

In an interviewfor the Russia 24 TV channel on Wednesday, Mr Marinichev said that the Russias cryptocurrency legislation will be similar to a degree to that of Japan, and to a degree to that of New York (the New York DFS licensing system).

Concerning the current popularity of Bitcoin trading, he said he would not recommend Russians to participate in Bitcoin trading in the near future, as the risk of loss is too high. One of the factors for that is the pending system upgrade.

Mr Marinichev added, however, that the perspectives for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are better in the longer term talking of a time horizon of at least a couple of years.

He stressed the increased understanding of Russian authorities of blockchain and Bitcoin. Indeed, even the Central Bank of Russia has this year become way more welcoming towards blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies. This stance has marked a stark contrast to the banks initial position that treated Bitcoin and its likes as money surrogates and warned that any activities associated with them may be treated as violations of AML laws.

In May this year, it became clear that the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications expects the legal provisions for the legalization of the DLT technologies like blockchain to be in place in 2019. In March this year, Russias Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev joined the supporters of blockchain technology by instructing the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications and the Ministry of Economic Development to explore the possible applications of the blockchain technology during the preparation of the Digital Economy program.

Russian businesses have been increasingly adopting blockchain-based solutions and have been examining the use of cryptocurrencies in their operations. The latest news in this respect come from airlines. Earlier in July, Russias main airline Aeroflot-Rossiyskiye Avialinii PAO (MCX:AFLT), published a procurement notice for proposals for the implementation of crypto-currencies and related technologies in its operations. Another push in this direction has been made by Alfa-Bank and S7 airlinethat have partnered on a project that will allow selling of flight tickets based on the Ethereum blockchain.

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Russia's cryptocurrency legislation to resemble that of Japan, US - FinanceFeeds (blog)

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‘Criminal mastermind’ of $4bn bitcoin laundering scheme arrested – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:51 am

Alexander Vinnik being led into a Greek court. Greek police described Vinnik as a an internationally sought mastermind of a crime organisation. Photograph: Giannis Papanikos/AP

The Russian internationally sought mastermind of a crime organisation accused of laundering more than $4bn in bitcoin, including funds obtained from the hack of failed bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has been arrested in Greece.

A US jury indicted Alexander Vinnik on Wednesday after his arrest in a small beachside village in northern Greece on Tuesday, following an investigation led by the US justice department along with several other federal agencies and task forces.

Vinnik was described by the justice department as the operator of BTC-e, an exchange used to trade the digital currency bitcoin since 2011, which was allegedly used to launder more than $4bn for people involved in crimes ranging from computer hacking to drug trafficking.

US authorities also linked him to the failure of Mt Gox, the Japan-based bitcoin exchange that collapsed in 2014 after being hacked. Vinnik obtained funds from the hack of Mt Gox and laundered them through BTC-e and Tradehill, another San Francisco-based exchange he owned, they said in the statement.

Just as new computer technologies continue to change the way we engage each other and experience the world, so too will criminals subvert these new technologies to serve their own nefarious purposes, said Brian Stretch, US attorney for the Northern District of California.

Vinniks arrest is the latest in a series of US operations against Russian cybercriminals in Europe, including the taking down of two of the biggest dark web marketplaces for drugs, guns and other illicit items, AlphaBay and Hansa, last week.

The prosecutions also coincide with intensified scrutiny of Russian hackers after US intelligence officials determined that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election using cyber-warfare methods to help Donald Trump, something Moscow denies.

During his time in the digital currency market, US authorities allege Vinnik facilitated crimes including hacking, fraud, identity theft, tax refund fraud, public corruption and drug trafficking. Greek police described Vinnik as a an internationally sought mastermind of a crime organisation.

BTC-e, which has been out of service for more than a day, attributed this to unplanned maintenance. In a tweet on Wednesday after the arrest of Vinnik, BTC-e said it would restore service in the next five to 10 days.

The exchange is one of the oldest virtual currency platforms. It allows users to trade bitcoin pseudonymously against a variety of fiat and virtual currencies, and is known in cryptocurrency markets as having relaxed standards for checking users identity, and for not collaborating with law enforcement.

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'Criminal mastermind' of $4bn bitcoin laundering scheme arrested - The Guardian

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Bitcoin slammed by more than 10% to below $2500; Ethereum down big too – CNBC

Posted: at 9:51 am

Bitcoin fell to its lowest in five days Tuesday amid uncertainty over whether the digital currency will still avoid a split.

Bitcoin dropped more than 10 percent to $2,487.13, its lowest since last Thursday when it hit a low of $2,276.16, according to CoinDesk.

The digital currency last traded just below $2,500, unchanged for the month but still more than double in value for the year.

Bitcoin one-week performance

Source: CoinDesk

Last Thursday, more than 80 percent of developers signaled support for BIP91, a bitcoin improvement proposal intended to resolve differences between the Aug. 1 User Activated Soft Fork and SegWit2x.

Now, there's worry that activation of SegWit2x might not go smoothly.

"I believe the market is currently somewhat torn between the optimism around BIP 91 locking in, which could lead to SegWit activating if all goes smoothly, and the fear of the second half of SegWit2x proposal, the 2MB block size hard fork, still being contested," Alex Sunnarborg, research analyst at CoinDesk, told CNBC in an email.

Developers must unanimously agree on the 2MB block size by its scheduled November implementation, otherwise bitcoin will split.

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Bitcoin slammed by more than 10% to below $2500; Ethereum down big too - CNBC

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Daily Archives: July 27, 2017

NSA Southwest World Series gets underway Thursday in Prescott – CVR News

Doklam standoff: NSA Doval in Beijing amid PLA unease over Indian ‘trespass’ – Hindustan Times

Section 702 surveillance should not be extended until the Fourth Amendment is honored – Washington Times

Buy/Sell with Cryptocurrency

Startups’ Cryptocurrency Fundraising Loophole Gets a Regulatory … – WIRED

Philippines Government yet to Approve Cryptocurrency Exchange … – Bitcoin News (press release)

AMD backs off cryptocurrency even as demand grows – CIO Dive

Russia’s cryptocurrency legislation to resemble that of Japan, US – FinanceFeeds (blog)

‘Criminal mastermind’ of $4bn bitcoin laundering scheme arrested – The Guardian

Bitcoin slammed by more than 10% to below $2500; Ethereum down big too – CNBC

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