Bitcoin Weekly 2014 December 10: Blockchain.info discloses security issue, BitQuest Bitcoin Minecraft server, Tim …

The dominant story this week is all about how security is extremely important in the Bitcoin worldnot to mention the Internet in generalwhen money is digital, it makes sense to keep it safe. Extremely popular wallet service and blockchain explorer Blockchain.info recently experienced a security issue that lasted a mere two and a half hours. In that time people did lose some bitcoins, keep reading for an explanation.

BitPay has landed another money processing service with Xsolla, a developer-centric monetization service who could benefit greatly from actual microtransactions. Minecraft is once again in the Bitcoin limelight with the BitQuest server, which hopes to integrate Bitcoin as a distributed currency and economic system in game.

After winning the entire lot of bitcoins from the Silk Road seizure, venture capitalist Tim Draper has come back to the US Marshals auction and won 2,000 BTC. New York State says buying bitcoins should not incur sales tax. And, check out a new bitcoin merchant site OneWallet.io.

All this and more in this Bitcoin Weekly!

Monday evening, December 8, between 12:00am and 2:30am GMT Blockchain.info had a security issue that affected the way that private keys for user wallets. In a transparency report blog post, the company said issue was caught quickly and affected only 0.0002% of the user base.

Users affected with e-mail addresses on file were informed immediately, but if you made a wallet between those times you should contact Blockchain.info:

If you created a wallet, generated a new address via Blockchain.infos web-wallet, or sent bitcoin from your wallet during this time period and have not provided us with your email address, please contact our support desk at support@blockchain.zendesk.com or simply create a new wallet.

Addresses, wallets and transactions executed via Blockchain.info mobile apps on iOS and Android or the Chrome extension were not affected, the company added.

Read more about this at Blockchain.infos transparency post on the subject.

Since the disclosure of this security issue, Reddit has seen a few threads from users claiming their coins were stolen: VICTIM: 100 Bitcoins STOLEN from blockchain.info Wallet during the Security Leak and ALL MY FUCKING BITCOINS GONE FROM BLOCKCHAIN. The Blockchain.info Reddit user, /u/blockchainwallet, has been busy keeping up with them and responding about the investigation.

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Bitcoin Weekly 2014 December 10: Blockchain.info discloses security issue, BitQuest Bitcoin Minecraft server, Tim ...