On December 4th a Bitcoin conference will be taking place in St Petersburg, Russia that features a slate of speakers that includes Pirate Party of Russia founder Paul Rassudov. The conference will take place at the Ambassador hotel on Rimsky-Korsakov drive. According to the conferences website they are still soliciting speakers. Registration for the conference is 10,000 rubles.
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
mcxNow Says it is Becoming mtMOX
Alleged cryptocurrency exchange mcxNOW has shuttered again for a second consecutive winter, and purports to be reopening eventually under the new name mtMOX. The first winter shuttering occurred one month after conducting a public offering for "Fee Shares" on the platform. The announcement: Continue reading
USMS Auctioning More Bitcoins
Today the United States Marshals Service has opened an auction for 50,000 more Bitcoins seized from Ross Ulbricht. The bidder registration period began today at 9:00 AM Eastern Standard time and continues through noon on Monday December 1st, 2014. Bids in the auction are to be entered by registered bidders on December 4th, 2014 from 8:00 AM through 2:00 PM, Eastern Standard time. Friday December 5th the winning bidders will be notified by the United States Marshals Service. Notified winners must initiate a wire transfer from a bank located in the United States and present a receipt for the wire transfer to the Marshals Service by 2:00 PM Eastern Standard time on Monday December 8th, 2014. Further details on the Auction structure: Continue reading
Rick Snyder Announces Michigan Cyber Civilian Corps
Following in the wake of the Detroit Mayor's announcement that they were too poor to pay a ransom, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has announced that the state plans to deploy "volunteer information security experts" in order to combat attacks on Michigan's information technology infrastructure. This announcement came at the same North American International Cyber Summit. Continue reading
Detroit Hit By Ransomware in April
According to The Detroit News and the Associated Press a city database was hit by ransomware this past April. According to Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan a ransom of 2,000 BTC was requested in order to restore access to the affected database. He also reported the ransom was not paid as the database was apparently not that important. This was revealed at the North American International Cyber Summit at Cobo Center. At the summit the Mayor also presented something else as problematic. Continue reading
This Onion, It Smells: Inherent Hazards of the Tor Network
This week Pando Daily's Yasha Levine wrote a follow up to a post from this summer where Yasha documented many of the numerous and transparent connections between the Tor developers and the United States Government. Nothing Yasha wrote in the original piece is particularly controversial, nearly all of it comes from public records, but still Yasha was able to write a follow up on all of the venom Yasha received from fans of Tor without any actual refutations of her points. The simple fact of the matter is that Tor was born of the needs of the United States Government's intelligence community, and continued funding to keep the main Tor developers fed, clothed, and sheltered largely comes from the coffers of those interests. Continue reading
Imperial College Hosts Bitcoin Technology Competition for Students
The Business School of Imperial College in London is hosting a competition for students to compete on developing "new forms of Bitcoin technology." The projects will count as course credit and cash awards of up to £3,000 are available, with grants up to £500 available for equipment expenses. The Imperial College press release seems to emphasize the idea of "Blockchain Technology" rather than Bitcoin itself, but it remains to be seen what form the actual student projects will take.
ISIS Introduces Coins
There are reports that the Islamic State has announced the introduction of a new trimetal monetary system, which they claim is based on the ancient dinar. The original dinar of course was a rebadging of the Byzantine δηνάριον by early Islamic rulers. The new ISIS currency consists of seven coins of which two are gold, three are silver, and two are copper. According to the Brookings Institute the coins are inscribed with a version of the message "The Islamic State: A Caliphate in Accordance with the Prophetic Method" reflecting the Islamic State's declaration of a Caliphate back in June. Continue reading
Dickson County Tennessee Sheriff Hit with Ransomware, Pays
The Memphis Business Journal reports that recently an employee of the Dickson County Sheriff's office invited ransomware to lock the department's case files. After consultation with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, the department paid the ransom.
Bitcoin Prices Cross $430
Earlier today Bitcoin prices as reported by Gribble passed $400 per single Bitcoin and as of publication continue their upward trend.