Day: July 22, 2017

The evolution of cryptocurrencies has led to an increased proliferation of dark net marketplaces, most of which use them as the medium of value exchange. However, the increased usage of these marketplaces to buy and sell contraband and illegal drugs has grabbed the attention of law enforcement agencies. Starting with the Silk Road — the … Continue reading Dark Net Marketplace Crackdowns to Continue as People Commit Mistakes

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In recent statements addressing contemporary cyber threats, including those pertaining to cryptocurrency cyber crime such as ransomware, the New Zealand Reserve Bank has rejected calls for enhanced and intrusive regulations.

Also Read: New Zealand Exchange Bitnz Shuts Down Due to ‘Banking Hostility’

“The Dynamic Cyber Environment Means That Organisations Have to Be Nimble in Their Approach to Cyber Security”

The New Zealand Reserve Bank has rejected calls for enhanced regulations designed to target contemporary cyber threats, including ransomware and other challenges associated with virtual currencies.

 

In a speech which has been published on the New Zealand Reserve Bank’s website, Reserve Bank representative Toby Fiennes articulates the bank’s position on contemporary cyber threats. “The dynamic cyber environment means that organisations have to be nimble in their approach to cyber security – focused on outcomes, rather than prescriptive compliance exercises.”

The speech indicates recognition that the challenges posed by cryptocurrency will be dynamic, and that the threats posed by online crime cannot simply be regulated out of existence. “The nature and incidence of cyber risk is unique, meaning that typical approaches to risk management and disaster recovery planning may not be appropriate. While cyber vulnerabilities can be mitigated, the potential sources of cyber threats and the attack footprint are just too broad, so they can never be eliminated.”

Fiennes Stated That the New Zealand Reserve Bank Is Watching The “Emerging Wave of Digital Disruption”

Whilst recognizing the short term disruptive potential of contemporary fintech innovations like bitcoin, the New Zealand Reserve Bank also believes that these new technologies are likely to bring benefits to the financial system in the long term. The bank recommends against heavy-handed prescriptive regulations for cryptocurrency – suggesting that legal guidelines for virtual currencies should be flexible, adaptive, and not restrict innovation. “Looking forward, the Reserve Bank and other regulators will need to make sure the regulatory regime in New Zealand is adaptive should any new business models become systemic, while not unduly harming innovation.”

The central bank also revealed that it is working in partnership with other government agencies including the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, and the Financial Markets Authority to ensure that New Zealand cultivates a regulatory climate that will encourage financial innovation within the digital sphere.

Do you agree with the reserve bank of New Zealand’s opinion that regulations designed to protect against cyber crime could harm innovation in new financial industries? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Images courtesy of Shutterstock

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The post New Zealand Reserve Bank Lax on Cyber and Crypto Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Here at Coin Sciences, we’re best known for MultiChain, a popular platform for creating and deploying permissioned blockchains. But we began life in March 2014 in the cryptocurrency space, with the goal of developing a “bitcoin 2.0″ protocol called CoinSpark. CoinSpark leverages transaction metadata to add external assets (now called tokens) and notarized messaging to bitcoin. Our underlying thinking was this: If a blockchain is a secure decentralized record, surely that record has applications beyond managing its native cryptocurrency.

The post [Review] Antminer T9 vs. Antminer S9 – Who is the Best Bitcoin Bitcoin Miner? appeared first on 99 Bitcoins.

Note: this review assumes knowledge of the Antminer S9. If you’re unfamiliar with that device, see our detailed Antminer S9 review. Despite the recent AsicBoost and Antbleed scandals, Bitmain remains the world’s premier ASIC manufacturer. Their hardware is just that good that, in most cases, anyone who wants to mine Bitcoin is forced to hold […]

Key Points Bitcoin price surged higher recently and moved above $2700 against the US Dollar to gain momentum. There was a break below a major bearish trend line with resistance at $2380 on the 4-hours chart of BTC/USD (data feed from SimpleFX). The price is currently consolidating above the $2650 support and setting up for … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis – BTC/USD To Continue Higher

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Key Highlights ETH price remained supported on the downside near $210 against the US Dollar. There is a monster contracting triangle pattern with resistance at $232-235 forming on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX). The pair is likely heading towards a major break, which could open the doors for more gains towards … Continue reading Ethereum Price Weekly Analysis – ETH/USD Upcoming Crucial Break

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Enthusiasts of the Bitcoin Lightning Network will be pleased with ACINQ right now, The company is releasing an Android Wallet for the  Lightning Network on the Bitcoin testnet. Although this still means the concept is in the  testing stage, it is a big step in the right direction. With SegWit activation drawing closer, now is … Continue reading Bitcoin Users can Access the Lightning Network via new Android Wallet Released by ACINQ

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Perhaps no coder is more at the center of bitcoin’s raging scaling debate more than Jeff Garzik – here he talks about the network’s future.

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The Bitcoin community has been experiencing lots of uncertainty in the past few months, thanks to the discord between the development community and others regarding scalability solutions. The attempt to activate SegWit and its opposition with an alternative solution by the rival camp threatened to fork Bitcoin into two separate cryptocurrencies, while rest of the … Continue reading ViaBTC Creates BCC/CNY Pair, Prepares for Eventual BitcoinABC Fork

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Even since the potential uses of blockchain technology started gathering attention, many entities have begun joining forces to create consortiums and working groups to further explore the technology. Over the past few years, Ethereum has gained prominence as a reliable protocol to enable the creation of seamless, flexible blockchain solutions. When some of the heavyweights … Continue reading Enterprise Ethereum Alliance Is Now the Largest Blockchain Consortium

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Bitcoin mining is a very competitive industry as miners worldwide are verifying transactions while securing the network for economic incentives. Bitcoin.com takes mining seriously with its world-class mining pool as well as offering the best cloud mining contracts in the industry. In the last quarter alone Bitcoin.com in partnership with a large confidential North America-based … Continue reading Bitcoin.com’s Mining Pool Registers Exponential Growth

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Parity, one of the forerunners of smart contract coding suffered security breach this week. As confirmed by Etherscan.io 150,000 ethers, worth $30 million, have been stolen. On different media there was discussion going on about the targeted attack: Edgeless Casino, Swarm City, and æternity – three ICO projects built on Ethereum as suggested by Manual Araoz. I am … Continue reading Olga Feldmeier: The Ethereum Parity Security Breach Is a Cause of Concern

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This week we reported on the takedown of the two largest darknet markets on the deep web — Alphabay, and Hansa. Now reports further reveal how global law enforcement seized the alleged Alphabay administrator, Alexandre Cazes, as well as the internal investigation of the Hansa marketplace which collected data on more than 50,000 cryptocurrency transactions.

Also read: Bitcoin Mining Pools Initiate Segwit Lock-in Period

Law Enforcement Seizes Alleged Alphabay Kingpin’s Luxury Cars and a Crypto-Portfolio Worth $8M

This week the global police force working on infiltrating darknet markets have revealed lots of info about their investigation. Now a forfeiture complaint details the asset seizure of Alexandre Cazes (Desnake), the alleged administrator for the Alphabay marketplace, who was found dead in his cell after his arrest in Thailand. According to the report from the U.S. court, officials confiscated over $8M in assorted cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, ether, and monero. Investigators say they obtained Cazes private keys from a text file found on his computer including another file detailing his net worth of $23M. 

The complaint also details how authorities obtained warrants for cryptocurrency exchange accounts by tracing bitcoin transactions that came from the Alphabay administrator’s wallet. Cazes allegedly made commission off of every purchase made on the darknet marketplace. The court document reveals Cazes used cryptocurrency tumblers which processed “tens of millions of dollars in commissions.” Additionally, the report covered the extensive collection of luxury automobiles purchased by Cazes, one of them a Lamborghini worth $1M. Police say that Cazes used his business “EBX Technologies” as a front for his illegal activities and used the company to launder his Alphabay revenue.  

“Approximately 1,605.0503851 bitcoins were seized from Alexandre Cazes and moved to a secure government-controlled bitcoin address,” explains the forfeiture complaint. “ Approximately 293.79476862 bitcoin was moved from server 3203 (Alphabay) to a secure government-controlled bitcoin address.”

Investigators say that the 25-year old Cazes was caught because he used his personal email “[email protected]” and messaged Alphabay users who lost their login credentials. This mistake allowed authorities to trace the email back to Cazes and begin monitoring his activities. Law enforcement has also revealed that Cazes was logged into the Alphabay as an administrator when he was initially arrested, similarly to the Ross Ulbricht arrest.

Dutch Police Infiltrate Hansa Market from Inside

According to the Netherlands Police and Public Prosecutor’s Office, authorities dismantled the Hansa darknet marketplace by taking over the site in early June. Law enforcement ran the illicit market while collecting customer data, sales revenue, and data on 50,000 cryptocurrency sales related transactions. The investigation and taskforce was also conducted with cooperation from officials from Germany, Lithuania, the U.S., and Europol.

“A total of more than 1,000 bitcoins have been seized” details the Netherlands prosecutor’s office.

On average, 1000 orders were made per day in response to some 40,000 ads. The market place counted in 1765 different sellers. Since the acquisition of Hansa Market’s management, more than 50,000 transactions have been counted, especially for soft and hard drugs.

The darknet taskforce revealed the two Hansa market administrators lived in Germany while other market workers resided in Siegen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Further, the report also reveals that the downfall of the Alphabay was kept “secret” in order to continue working on the inside of Hansa. At the time Bitcoin.com reported on Hansa receiving a large swathe of new registrants and stopped accepting new customers.

“The goal was to attract unsatisfied Alpha Bay users to other marketplaces —  On Hansa Market, the number of visitors increased from 1000 to 8000 per day,” explains the Dutch taskforce.

What do you think about the two largest darknet markets being infiltrated by global police? Let us know in the comments below.

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Images via Shutterstock, and ABC News. 

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The post The Curious Cases of the ‘Alphabay Kingpin’ and Hansa Takedowns appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Dash users may have noticed a price increase these past few days. There are many contributing factors to this, perhaps the biggest of which was Apple’s finally approving Dash as an official digital currency. Any application in the iOS App Store can now integrate Dash functionality without repercussions. It is a major victory for the Dash Core developers, and one that could push the Dash price to $200 over the coming weeks.

Apple Finally Approves Dash as a Digital Currency

It was not easy for Dash Core developers to get their wallet approved by Apple. The technology giant has officially rejected any Dash-related iOS application since August of 2016. That decision has hindered the growth of Dash as a whole, even though its market cap continued to grow over time. At the time of writing, the Dash price is above $190 and its market cap sits well above US$1.4B.

It has taken a lot of effort by the Dash Core developers to persuade Apple to change its mind. The technology giant understandably wishes to protect users from any harm. Denying entry for applications related to Dash was a harsh decision, but it made a lot of sense at the time. Several malicious and unaudited Dash wallet applications had been approved by the Apple team prior to this decision, which put users at risk. Given the mounting number of complaints, the technology giant was forced to take drastic action.

The Dash Core developers have been fighting an uphill battle for nearly a full year. When Apple made its latest decision, it seemed as if all hopes were dashed. The company rejected multiple applications related to Dash over the past few months. Now that these decisions have finally been overturned, any application in the Apple App Store can integrate Dash functionality in the future.

Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor explained the appeal process:

“We asked Apple to reconsider Dash’s status because we have a compelling story of continued growth and innovation. We believe that Dash is already a far superior digital currency compared with other options, and with our landmark Evolution release rolling out in stages over the next year, our user experience will be even more differentiated going forward. Additionally, we want to meet our users’ demands, and support on Apple products ranks at the top of the list of our user wishes. In short, our users’ priorities are our priorities. We couldn’t be more pleased that Apple has decided Dash is worthy of being one of the few approved digital currencies on their platform. There is a lot of overlap in our user bases, as both entities focus on optimizing the end-user experience and making our respective products a pleasure to use.”

Now that the iOS Dash Wallet has been approved by Apple, the Dash Core developers can look toward the future. They plan to make large investments into the wallet now that it is publicly available. This wallet provides the InstantSend feature to complete payments in real-time. More features and wallet enhancements are on the horizon and will be included in future versions of the iOS app. This is very positive news for the Dash Core team and all supporters of this digital currency.

The news has an impact on the Dash price as well.  Right now, one Dash token is worth US$191.8, which represents a 1.24% increase over the past 24 hours. An approved Apple wallet could help push the Dash price to $200 and beyond over time. Bithumb is currently leading in trading volume, followed by Poloniex.