Army Research Office Funds MIT Bitcoin Price Research

In a recent press release, the MIT News Office announced the publication of a paper by researchers attempting to predict Bitcoin price by Bayesian regression. The paper's subject matter and methods are of specialist interest, but a matter of more general interest appears in the paper's acknowledgements: Continue reading

Intel Subsidiary Fined for Crypto Export

The Bureau of Industry and Security recently issued a $750,000 fine against Intel subsidiary Wind River Systems for the unlawful exportation of software products that enable encryption. This is a sharp departure from BIS’s historical practice and suggests the agency may take a tougher stance on such violations in the future. Among restricted foreign government end-users and organizations on the BIS Entity List, Wind River Systems shipped to China, Russia, Israel, Hong Kong, South Africa, and South Korea. Continue reading

Independent Reserve Becomes Australia's Latest Bitcoin Exchange

Independent Reserve today launched Australia's newest Bitcoin exchange, opening its doors to customers this morning. The Sydney based company, of which Adam Tepper is CEO, claims they will add a valuable source of liquidity to the growing Bitcoin market across the globe. Adam Tepper also stated that their last mover advantage has enabled the company to spend thousands of hours on R&D while learning from the mistakes made by other exchanges. This will enable IR to provide users with a platform that is "completely robust." Continue reading

Bitcoin tells Big Banks: "Thanks for lunch!"

From October 10-11, 2014, at the Institute of International Finance Annual Membership Meeting in Washington DC, CEOs from the world's largest banks gathered together to hold hands and sing kumbaya in the hope that Bitcoin would be gentle.1 Continue reading


  1. Of course, Bitcoin will be nothing of the sort – Bitcoin will be quite the opposite of all that is fair, nice, and fiat. That's kinda the fucking point, y'know? 

Bank of England Payment Settlements Offline: Home Purchases Impossible

Large purchases including those of housing and real estate in the United Kingdom have stalled today as the Bank of England's Real Time Gross Settlement Payment System is down. As a result banks in the UK can not settle large transactions between each other, though small transactions are processed with a different system. Continue reading

IBM Pays To Divest Chip Business

IBM announced today that they will pay GlobalFoundries 1.5 Billion dollars over three years in exchange for GlobalFoundries taking over their microchip business. GlobalFoundries was itself created in 2009 when AMD divested from manufacturing.  As part of the deal GlobalFoundries is getting paid to acquire IBM's semiconductor manufacturing facilities and personnel with the exception of a small team of researchers remaining with IBM. The number of things IBM still does continues to shrink.

Spain to Issue More Online Gambling Licenses

With Spain's Gaming industry facing declining fortunes, regulators seek to issue more online gambling licenses. Spain notably has the highest tax on Gross Gaming Revenue in Europe and a number of established online betting operations in Spain have been relinquishing their licenses due to cost. El Ministerio de Hacienda y Administraciones Publicas has ruled in that past that they suppose online gambling operations in Bitcoin ought to apply for licenses when they operate in Spain.

Kraken Considers Purchasing MtGox Assets As It Pushes Into Japan

Payward1 run exchange Kraken is headed to Japan with plans to begin offering its service by the end of this October. Founder and CEO Jesse Powell believes Kraken has the expertise required to meet demand for a Japanese Bitcoin exchange. Kraken won't be the first exchange to launch in Japan since the collapse of MtGox with BitOcean and BtcBox having beaten them to the punch earlier this year. Continue reading


  1. Investors include Hummingbird Ventures, Trace Mayer and the Bitcoin Opportunity Fund.