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Qntra - Herald Of The Most Serene Republic |
Theymos of the Bitcoin Talk forum today revealed he recently received a subpoena to which he satisfied a request for posts made by current and ex-employees of BFL in addition to the content of their private messages.
He writes (archive): Continue reading
The Bitcoin ATM seized by Australian police from a Brisbane business back in October has finally been returned. According to local police superintendent Mick Niland the seizure happened under the mere suspicion the machine was being used for other than lawful purposes.
As hard as the State of New York seems to be working to separate itself from Bitcoin in the manner the United Kingdom has, a number of relics from the fiat world are trying to latch on to a simulacrum of Bitcoin shaped in the fiat world's image.
Readers are reminded that New York and Manhattan in particular overtly present a hostile legal and regulatory environment unsuitable for actual Bitcoin businesses.
Just two short months after closing its doors following an apparently humiliating "potential compromise," CAD-BTC exchange CaVirtex has re-opened its doors under the purview of US-based Bitcoin exchange Coinsetter. Yes, that would be Jaron Lukasiewicz's Coinsetter, he being the fellow who thought that Ripple was a good idea apparently because he had too much money on his youthful hands.
For users of the revived CaVirtex, the only visible difference is a new landing page promoting the new partnership. Once past this landing page, the excessive familiarity reveals itself in a number of now factual errors, to the point where the exchange still advertises itself as a "Canadian Corporation" and that "all voting shareholders of CAVIRTEX are Canadian" despite its most recent claims to the contrary.
Another claim that the revamped CaVirtex is making is that they've employed "the Securicoin® system," which appears to be little more than Coinsetter slang for "cold storage" even though it claims to be "Wall Street grade,"1 and that over 50% of user funds are being held in insured Xapo Vaults.2
Trading volume at CaVirtex has been slow to rekindle since trading resumed on April 8, 2015, with the website claiming a meager 372 BTC traded over the past week. This figure is to be taken with a grain of salt, however, given that CaVirtex apparently traded at least a fraction of a bitcoin for as cheaply as CAD $0.01 during the last 7 days. (cache)
No word yet on whether Coinsetter plans to honour obligations to non-voting shareholders who were stripped of 4,000 BTC when CaVirtex delisted on Havelock Investments on December 31, 2013. According to CaVirtex's delisting notice, these investors own 10% of the company. At this time, it appears they may be left out in the rain.
FSPD Chief Lindsey
Police in Fort Smith Arkansas have been caught embedding malware in a collection of documents requested by the lawyer for a whistleblower reporting on misconduct in the department. Attorney Matt Campbell reports that upon the return of a drive he provided to the Fort Smith Police Department for the purpose of receiving evidence, three common pieces of spyware targeting Microsoft Windows computers were implanted into a sub folder on the drive. The spyware includes a keylogger, backdoors, and a command and control utility.
Campell is representing whistle-blower Don Paul Bales in a lawsuit against the Fort Smith Police Department for retailing against Bale's reports of illegal practices within the department concerning employee termination and payroll procedures. Arkansas State Police have declined requests by Campbell to investigate the incident claiming that any potential violations would be merely "misdemeanors" insufficient to involve their investigators. Similarly local Sebastian County Prosecuting Attorney for the 12th District of Arkansas Daniel Shue has declined to investigate citing a lack of resources even though their own web page declares Shue's office is "one of the busiest Prosecuting Attorney’s offices in the state." (archived) It remains to be seen if this can be investigated and prosecuted at the Federal level. Continue reading
Consumer to Consumer Bitcoin retailing and trading site Brawker has announced its imminent closure (archived). They have ceased processing new orders and are offering until the end of the month for orders in progress to be resolved. Brawker cites a disappointing rate in customer growth over their 18 month history as the primary reason for closure.
The Vessenes Bitcoin Foundation has installed Bruce Fenton as their executive director replacing Patrick Murck who occupied the office on an interim basis. Fenton was elected by the board with five affirmative votes with one recorded abstention. In the recent election for the this foundation's board Bruce Fenton was a candidate ended the election in fourth place. One of the two candidates to win a seat on the Board, Oliver Janssens won a director's seat running for office with a history of seeking the Vessenes Foundation's replacement with software. After his first meeting as a board member Janssens, who won his seat with 63 percent of the membership's vote exposed the Vessenes Foundation's dire situation, and the rest of the board attempted a rebuttal of the indictment by Janssens. Continue reading
Preet Bharara, the United States premier inquisitor for prosecuting Bitcoin cases, was reprimanded by United States District Court Judge Valerie Caproni for endangering the former New York Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver's right to a fair trial by making public statements endangering his right to a fair trial by jury. Caproni in ruling on a motion by the defense offered:
"In this case, the U.S. Attorney,1 while castigating politicians in Albany for playing fast and loose with the ethical rules that govern their conduct, strayed so close to the edge of the rules governing his own conduct that Defendant Sheldon Silver has a non-frivolous argument that he fell over the edge to the Defendant’s prejudice."
Bharara ↩
Not content to let BitPay be the only DERP on the block who can dole out investor funds by "raising awareness" and "increasing adoption," Palo Alto-based Xapo has just launched a partnership and give-away contest in coordination with e-sports platform CEVO and upstart 'bitcoin-based gaming service' Leetcoin. Continue reading
Continuing to keep its shiva hands full and not content with just tackling the videogame industry, the EFF has just helped to win a decision with the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that invalidates the "podcasting patent" held by Personal Audio LLC, a Texas-based patent trolling firm. Personal Audio LLC is famous for having squeezed $8 mn from Apple Inc. in 2011 for the fruit company's use of "navigable playlists" on its iPod music players, as well as having sued American comedian Adam Corolla for distributing podcasts, only to be counter-sued before the two parties quietly settled. Continue reading
