According the The Register, Filippo Valsorda has released a tool which uncovers transactions that leak private keys on the Bitcoin blockchain. The tool is called Blockchainr and is available on Github. The attack highlighted is the same one which last year lead to the emptying of a number of wallets on the Android platform in which insufficiently random nonces in ECDSA signatures leave private keys solvable. Valsorda noted that the Blockchain.info wallet's dependency on the user's web browser to provide a random nonce leaves it vulnerable to this avenue of attack. Previously Valsorda released a tool which checks for vulnerability to the Heartbleed defect.
Author Archives: Aaron 'BingoBoingo' Rogier
Vietnam: Prosecutors Reject Charging Bitcoin Traders
Thanh Nien News reports that three individuals arrested in Khanh Hoa Province for buying and selling Bitcoins have been released without charges on the order of local prosecutors. Police plan to continue pursuing the case by appealing to the Supreme People’s Procuracy to continue the prosecution. In the course of the arrest nearly 500 million Vietnamese Dong were seized along with computers and documents. According to the deputy head of the local prosecution unit "the three did not engage in an illegal transaction since Bitcoins are not a recognized currency or commodity in Vietnam and therefore cannot be considered a banned item."
Surveillance Mogul: Make Bitcoin Like Paypal
Peter Thiel, notable for being the founder of global surveillance firm Palantir and a co-founder of Paypal, today described Bitcoin as "lacking a Payment system" of the sort Paypal had while also criticizing it for introducing a new currency "for speculators." Thiel also insisted commerce happening in Bitcoin was almost entirely illegal. In his conversation with US today Thiel noted he has roughly three quarters of his wealth tied up in illiquid tech stocks.
Melbourne Group Works For Bitcoin ASX Listing
The "Bitcoin Group" of Melbourne Australia aspires to list on the Australian Securities Exchange reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The Group was founded by Sam Lee and to this point funded by Chinese fire safety mogul Allan Gao. The prospectus will be filed October 22nd with the offer opening October 29th. In related news the Australian Senate has on open call for submission related to its inquiry on Bitcoin regulations which closes November 28th. Presently the group focuses on arbitrage, which they admit will face shrinking returns if more market makers compete in this area. Continue reading
Coinbase Retains Government Insider
The New York Times reports that Coinbase has hired former adviser to the US Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee John Collins. Coinbase is a California based business that "hosts" wallets on the behalf of users while also serving as a payment processor and online retail counter for exchanging between Bitcoin and United States dollars in a time insensitive manner. Among users Coinbase is notable for its inquiries into user activities and blocking gambling related transactions without regard for their actual legality in the user's jurisdiction.
Justcoin Wounded by Ripple Flaw
Justcoin CTO Andreas Brekken documented on his blog a flaw in the official Ripple gateway implementation wherein transactions may be credited for amounts far greater than the actual amount actually transacted. Justcoin customer balances are affected based on customer reports of an email sent by Justcoin. The culprit in the case is a transaction flag called tfPartialPayment which the Ripple wiki described thusly in older revisions: Continue reading
Man Arrested For Using Credit Card at Cyn Nightclub
An extended delay in credit card transaction processing left a Patron of Cyn Nightclub in Fort Lauderdale Florida facing grand theft charges. Trusted third party Wells Fargo which issued the card approved an $80 charge for drinks earlier in the night, but failed to approve $600 in charges later in the night. A second card from trusted third party also failed to approve the later charges. $1000 in bail was successfully paid by one of the card issuers to the Broward County Jail. Continue reading
Ethereum Developer to Insurers: Consider Covering Bitcoin Risk
A Canadian insurance industry magazine reports that at the Annual Engineering Insurance Conference Ethereum Developer Ethan Wilding offered statements including: "If you are working in the insurance industry, this is something you might want to consider, get some actuarial scientists on it and see if it's not something you can get involved in and make a big name for yourself as a premier Bitcoin underwriting company." The conference was hosted by The Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company of Canada which the magazine notes presented on their electrical transformer oil and gas inspection program.
Judge Forrest Rejects Illegal Search Defense In Ulbricht Case
Ulbricht's lawyers defense that the FBI illegally collected evidence in the case against him has been rejected by Judge Katherine Forrest on the grounds that Ulbricht insufficiently established that the server searched was his. Wired describes the ruling as based on a technicality. Some reactions to the ruling: Continue reading
Liberty Reserve Founder Arthur Budovsky Extradited
The most prominent department of the United States government that prosecutes persons today announced that it has extradited Costa Rican citizen Arthur Budovsky from Spain. Assistant US Attorney General Caldwell is quoted in the Department's press release noting that Budvosky had already renounced his United States citizenship, operated his venture in the country outside of the United States otherwise known as Costa Rica, and had at the time of his extradition been storing his corporeal form in Spain which is another country which is not in the United States.