Bitcoin startup BitX rings in funding from Venturra Capital

Singapore-based bitcoin startup BitX has raised a round of funding from Venturra Capital, it announced today.

BitX previously raised US$4 million for its series A round in July. That round was led by South African media conglomerate Naspers and joined by investors like the Digital Currency Group, a bitcoin-focused investor founded by cryptocurrency stalwart Barry Silbert.

The amount is undisclosed at the moment. “It’s a substantial amount and what we believe to be the first substantial investment from a Southeast Asian VC into a bitcoin company,” Marcus Swanepoel, CEO and co-founder of BitX, tells Tech in Asia. He does share that Naspers is still the startup’s largest institutional investor.

The funding will allow BitX to speed up a number of activities it started with its series A funding. These include recruitment, product development, and entering new markets. “We’ve seen some really strong growth over the past three months so having additional cash to help drive these initiatives and ultimately result in an even better customer experience is very useful,” Marcus says. He confirms that the funding is 100 percent available to the company.

See: Meet BitX, perhaps the slickest and easiest-to-use mobile Bitcoin wallet yet
Venturra, a US$150 million fund for businesses in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, debuted a few months ago and has since announced a number of investments like Indonesian beauty ecommerce site Sociolla and Malaysian services startup Kaodim. Marcus says the VC is an important partner for BitX for its plans, especially when it comes to building ecosystems. “This is where their relationships and access to companies that can help us enable these ecosystems is key,” he says. Additionally, the VC has valuable expertise in helping BitX localize its services for Indonesia, a market it entered in early 2015.

“BitX has an exceptional team that combines deep technical expertise and commercial acumen. They have proven they can build innovative products and strong traction in a rapidly emerging industry,” Stefan Jung, co-founder and managing partner at Venturra Capital, says in a statement.

https://www.techinasia.com/bitx-funding-venturra-bitcoin/

Cyber Extortion, DDoS-For-Bitcoin Campaigns Rise '

Now that the model is proven, more cyber-extortionists are entering the scene, stealing their predecessors' ideas and even their names.

Whether it be via DDoS, doxing threats, or ransomware, attackers extorting victims for cash via electronic means is growing, and Bitcoin may be partly to blame for the increase, according to researchers at Recorded Future.

"Bitcoin attracted more miscreants to the space," says Tyler Bradshaw, solutions engineer for Recorded Future. Because it's a relatively new, the unregulated currency allows extortionists to accept payments anonymously.

While ransomware operators are generally indiscriminate about targets, go after individuals, and request small ransoms of 1 to 2 BTC (currently approximately $349 to $698), DDoS extortionists take the opposite approach.

Last year, the threat group DD4BC (short for "DDoS for Bitcoin") first emerged. DD4BC's modus operandi was to threaten a company with a major distributed denial of service -- on the magnitude of 400-500 Gbps -- prove it could compromise the network by carrying out a low-level warning attack of roughly 10-20 Gbps, and demand a payment to prevent a large-scale DDoS. According to Recorded Future, DD4BC has attacked over 140 companies in this way.

According to a report by researchers at Akamai’s Prolexic Security Engineering and Research Team (PLXsert) released in September, the group first targeted online gaming and online currency exchanges -- which would be reluctant to request help from law enforcement. They then shifted attention to financial services companies, tweaking the attack to include a threat of publicly embarrasing the company by revealing, via social media, the company had been DDoSed.

DD4BC's ransom demands ranged from 10 BTC to as much as 200 BTC (currently $3,940 to $78,788), often starting low and increasing the price the longer the victim failed to pay up.

DD4BC did not actually seem to be capable of carrying out the 400-500 Gbps-scale attack they threatened. The worst Akamai detected was 56 Gbps. Yet, the threats and warning attacks were enough to convince targets to pay the ransom.

As Akamai PLXsert wrote in its September report:

http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/cyber-extortion-ddos-for-bitcoin-campaigns-rise--/d/d-id/1323448

Ciphrex's Eric Lombrozo: There Is No 'December Deadline'

The long-lasting block-size dispute seems to be inching toward a climax.

A large segment of Bitcoin's academic and engineering community has been discussing the possibilities and tradeoffs of scaling Bitcoin at the Scaling Bitcoin workshop in Hong Kong this past weekend, while prominent Bitcoin companies such as Coinbase, BitPay, Bitstamp and others have posed a “December deadline” afterward, at which point they will change their code to allow for bigger blocks.

But not according to Ciphrex CEO and Bitcoin Core developer Eric Lombrozo: “Talk of 'deadlines' is just that: talk. In the end it is not really up to these companies to impose any such deadline.”

According Lombrozo, whose Ciphrex is the company behind the Bitcoin wallet mSIGNA, the block-size dispute represents a clash of visions. And the only way to reconcile these visions to some degree, he thinks, is through added layers on top of the Bitcoin protocol, such as payment channels and the Lightning Network.

“At one extreme – the ‘big block’ side – we have a system where anyone can transact but few can verify, and at the other we have a system where anyone can verify but few can transact,” Lombrozo explained. “The first is not really much different from exisisting centralized payment systems, and the latter is only well-suited for high-value settlement. Neither extreme is desirable. Bitcoin, in its current form, presents us with this fundamental tradeoff. To get the best of both worlds, or something close to it, will require additional technology layers.”

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/ciphrex-s-eric-lombrozo-there-is-no-december-deadline-1449508953

From Apple Pay and Google wallet to bitcoin: The end of cash

You may be familiar with the phrase “cash is king,” but with cash alternatives like credit cards, PayPal (PYPL), Venmo, Apple Pay (AAPL), Google Wallet (GOOG, GOOGL), and bitcoin flooding the market, the king might be about to lose its crown.

So is this the end of cold, hard cash? Not quite—but we’re getting there.

Last year, a study by Bankrate found that 40 percent of American consumers carried less than $20 in cash on a regular basis. About 9 percent of those surveyed said they didn’t carry cash at all.

According to the Federal Reserve, cash still accounts for 40 percent of all U.S. transactions but only 14 percent of the value of total payments. That means people are still using cash, but mostly for low-cost items like their morning cup of coffee.

Sixty-six percent of consumers use cash for purchases between $0 and $10, but less than 12 percent of consumers use cash for purchases of more than $100.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/from-apple-pay-and-google-wallet-to-bitcoin--the-end-of-cash-165532723.html#

Australian Bitcoin Group delays IPO for fifth time

Today, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Bitcoin Group had to delay their IPO for the fifth time until mid-January. Bitcoin Group, led by Alan Guo, Samuel Lee and Ryan Xu, would be the second bitcoin startup to be listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The first, digitalBTC, was added last year.

The delay stems from the timing of the startup’s submission of a supplement to their replacement prospectus on September 4, which gave a listing date of January 6. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) requires that listings be made within three months of the submission, otherwise the company must return all raised money to investors. Bitcoin Group will have to wait until January before submitting a third prospectus.

Two previous stop orders were given to Bitcoin Group from the ASIC. The first was given soon before the submission of the original prospectus. The second came when the ASIC discovered Bitcoin Group was promoting the fundraising round on WeChat, a Chinese social media site.

Bitcoin Group is a startup that focuses on bitcoin mining. The startup’s site states that more than 135,000 transactions are validated every 24 hours through the use of 6,129 mining machines. About 62 bitcoins are mined every day.

https://coinreport.net/australian-bitcoin-group-delays-ipo-fifth-time/

Ex-Agent Gets 6 Years Prison for Betrayal in Silk Road Probe

A government agent who stole $820,000 in bitcoins while investigating an online drug emporium was sentenced to almost six years in prison after a prosecutor said his deceit amounts to a “breathtaking abuse of trust.”

Shaun Bridges, who worked for the Secret Service, hijacked the account of an administrator for the Silk Road black market website to syphon off the digital currency. The U.S. said Bridges deserved a harsh sentence because the administrator was working as a government informant and was put in danger when Silk Road’s founder assumed he was the thief and tried to have him killed.

The informant, Curtis Green, sobbed on the witness stand Monday as he told a San Francisco federal judge he received more than 30 death threats as word got out that he had stolen from the Internet bazaar for drugs, hacker tools and other contraband. He said he couldn’t bring himself to describe in court the graphic threats to his grandchildren.

“So you can imagine the mental stress and anguish that it put me through,” he said.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said when he imposed the 71-month sentence that Bridges committed an extremely serious crime. He called it “an extraordinary betrayal of public trust that could have gotten a person killed.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-07/federal-agent-should-get-six-years-for-bitcoin-theft-u-s-says

BitWage Powers International Payrolls with Bitcoin



Payroll expenses are costly and slow.

Bitwage, a bitcoin startup, offers a solution that targets the pain points of payroll management for businesses and employees.

The company extends its services to Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Philippines, and the Eurozone.

Since its inception in 2013, the group has grown rapidly to accommodate big names in the tech industry, such as Uber, Google, Microsoft, GE and WHO.

“Turns out that, on average, it costs 8% to send funds across borders and often takes up to five days for funds to settle. A system that was one eighth the cost and dramatically faster was something that employers were now willing to adopt, as it benefitted them as well as the employees,” wrote Jonathan Chester, founder and CSO at BitWage.

Compared to bank-to-bank transfers, employees can receive their wages on the same or next day (depending on the cutoff time of the deposit). Service fees for both parties are non-existent, and BitWage offers a more competitive exchange rate that is usually less aggressive than the normal retail exchange rate.

Adopting the robust service is a seamless process, allowing employees to receive payouts in bitcoin, local currencies and even precious metals.

The business has caught the attention of several investment companies. In November, the group raised $750,000 in its latest funding round led by Orange and Tim Draper’s Draper Associates.

Other firms that participated in the round includes Halsey Minor’s Cloud Money Ventures, Max Keiser’s Bitcoin Capital, Saeed Amidi, and BankToTheFuture.

“We are more than excited to have the support of influential companies and individuals, such as Orange and Tim Draper. Our success can be attributed to our impressive growth, with over $1.7m in transactions since last November and our loyal customers who love what we have built,” said Chester.

http://paymentweek.com/2015-12-7-bitwage-powers-international-payrolls-with-bitcoin-9053/

Gavin Andresen Explains Why He Prefers BIP 101 Over BIP 100

There have been a few proposals to increase the maximum blocksize in Bitcoin over the past year, but the two plans that are garnering the most attention right now are Jeff Garzik’s BIP 100 and Gavin Andresen’s BIP 101. While Andresen has already implemented his plan in BitcoinXT, Garzik is still working on a formal write-up and the code for BIP 100.

Andresen shared his thoughts on BIP 100 via an interview on Epicenter Bitcoin. Although he did not seem completely dismissive of the proposal, it’s clear that he would prefer to go with his own idea for increasing the blocksize, which would offer more predictability in regard to where the blocksize limit will be in the future.

How BIP 100 Works

When asked directly about BIP 100 by Epicenter Bitcoin co-host Sébastien Couture, Andresen was quick to describe the basic way in which the concept is intended to work:

“Jeff [Garzik]’s proposal is that basically the miners get to decide what the next maximum blocksize should be. There’s kind of a regular vote every -- on the order of months.”

Andresen then discussed both BIP 100 and BIP 101 in terms of which proposal would lead to a larger increase in the blocksize limit. The Bitcoin Foundation chief scientist noted that Garzik’s proposal does not come with an immediate increase after it has been implemented, but this does not necessarily mean that it would limit the size of blocks over the short term:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/gavin-andresen-explains-why-he-prefers-bip-over-bip-1449506700

Bitcoin technology; Facebook tools for the blind; more

Troy Wolverton writes: You may never use Bitcoin, but there's a decent chance that you'll eventually benefit from the technology underlying the virtual currency.

As social media sites like Facebook become more visual, filled with a stream of photos, GIFs and videos, the blind and the visionally impaired are sometimes left out of what their friends and family are sharing. Now the Menlo Park tech firm is harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to create new tools that not only describe items in a photo but allows users to ask what's in an image.

Michelle Quinn writes: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan have taken some heat for the structure of their new philanthropic initiative, but they can win points by disclosing more about their new endeavor than is legally required.

Larry Magid writes about the demographic shift that means there are now digital natives raising kids: Even tech-savvy people need to be reminded about safety, privacy and security as well as the importance of being kind online. Plus, the online landscape is constantly changing.

Just as drones become common at lower elevations, nanosatellites known as CubeSats have become increasingly popular among scientists, educators and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and beyond. They have grand plans for the satellites: from studying space weather that can disrupt communication systems to scanning for asteroids for space mining expeditions.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_29212660/bitcoin-technology-facebook-tools-blind-more

Bitcoin Group Fails to IPO; Barred From Refile Until 2016
Executive Brief

In November, Sam Lee and his Bitcoin Group in Australia made news for positioning themselves for a major Initial Public Offering on the Australian Stock Exchange. Upon final assessment by the Australian financial authorities, the Bitcoin Group will not be able to “go public” until 2016, at the earliest, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Read the full story below.

http://dcebrief.com/bitcoin-group-fails-to-ipo-barred-from-refile-until-2016/

Bitcoin virtual currency can be risky for consumers, merchants and investors

CROMWELL — Connecticut Better Business Bureau urges consumers, investors and merchants to understand the risks associated with the virtual currency known as “Bitcoin.” Hundreds of thousands of merchants around the world, including major retailers in the U.S., now accept payment by Bitcoin and financial and regulatory authorities have taken notice.

Digital or virtual currencies are emerging as a trendy way to pay for goods and services. These transactions allow simple, anonymous payments around the world, bypassing the wait and fees associated with international banking transactions.

Bitcoin is a digital form of money that is not controlled or backed by any central government or central bank. This digital money can be bought or sold through virtual currency exchanges and used to purchase goods or services. The paperless currency’s value fluctuates wildly, making it dangerous for merchants who accept it, as well as consumers who purchase bitcoins as an investment.

“Virtual currency is gaining wider acceptance in the marketplace, but that does not mitigate the associated risks,” according to Connecticut Better Business Bureau Executive Communications Director, Howard Schwartz. “The lack of regulation and protection for consumers at this time makes virtual currency risky.”

The Risks

Some common concerns and issues you should consider when approached with potential investment opportunities:

    Virtual currency is subject to minimal regulation, susceptible to cyber-attacks and there may be no recourse should the virtual currency disappear.
    Virtual currency accounts are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which insures bank deposits up to $250,000.
    Investments tied to virtual currency may be unsuitable for most investors due to their volatility.
    Investors in virtual currency will be highly reliant upon unregulated companies that may lack appropriate internal controls and may be more susceptible to fraud and theft than regulated financial institutions.
    Investors will have to rely upon the strength of their own computer security systems, as well as security systems provided by third parties, to protect their digital wallets from theft

Scam artists are banking on the popularity of virtual currencies to take advantage of people with fake investment swindles.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) took action against a Texas man who advertised a Bitcoin “investment opportunity” in an online Bitcoin forum. He convinced victims to give him their Bitcoin holdings in exchange for the promise of receiving even more Bitcoins in the future, plus 7% interest per week. The scam was exposed when the promoter was not able to pay the promised returns.

What to Do

It pays to do your homework before you make any decisions with your money. Keep in mind the following tips when considering any type of investment opportunity:

    Contact Connecticut Better Business Bureau, at 860-740-4500, to see if any complaints have been filed against the venture’s promoters or principals.
    Ask for written information on the investment product and the business. Such information, including financial data on the company and the risks involved in the investment, is contained in a prospectus. Read it carefully.
    Don’t take everything you hear or read at face value. Ask questions. If you need help in evaluating the investment, go to someone independent whom you can trust such as an attorney or an accountant.
    Steer clear of investments touted with no downside or risk.


http://fox61.com/2015/12/07/bitcoin-virtual-currency-can-be-risky-for-consumers-merchants-and-investors/

Setting up your own central bank is just the start with Ethereum

Ethereum lead designer Alex Van de Sande has heralded the beta launch of the Ethereum Wallet with some lapel-grabbing blogposts.

Inviting users to "build your own cryptocurrency" or "build a better democracy", the posts explain step by step how to create a value token, place that within a contract and allow parties to the contract to make decisions based around the inherent value. The result is a democratic value-based system that exists autonomously and transparently on the blockchain.

Van de Sande explained that tokens and coins become interesting with Ethereum because of what you can do with them. Once you have a group of people controlling a currency and voting on it, you have created the simulation of a central bank, and a completely transparent one – a novel proposition in itself.

He said: "You create a token that is controlled by a democracy. So it means that that democracy can vote if they want to release more tokens, or if they want to freeze somebody's account, or unfreeze it for that matter.

"It's interesting because it works a little bit like central government or central bank: they can seize assets and generate money. But it's completely transparent and it lives on the blockchain. If you were building a central bank in your house, let's just say, then probably the government would go inside your house and say: 'What are you doing? You are not supposed to do that.'

"But it's a central bank that lives on the blockchain and every decision it takes is only done transparently and after a vote. And everyone who holds a token is essentially saying that they trust the vote, they trust the system, they trust the contracts that are there and they trust the people who own the shares that can vote. So in a sense it's a great way to build – not only like a democracy – but it's a great way to build a company."

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/setting-your-own-central-bank-just-start-ethereum-1532146

Cryptid open source identification system uses the blockchain to revolutionize ID

Access control systems are an integral part of the security industry, which is vital across every campus, airport, corporate office, government building, and anywhere else the movement of people or their access to certain items or programs, is limited. Even the driver’s license in your wallet is a product of this industry, and it is likely laden with 45-year old magnetic stripe technology, and can be counterfeited by hundreds of different people around the world for an affordable fee on the dark web.

There are many dozens of access control and ID card-issuing programs for sale to businesses today, and far more proprietary programs that governments and the largest corporations use. No matter if they allow control over devices like door locks and badge scanners, all of them have a central database that holds personal data, and many of them issues ID cards of some kind.

The larger and more secure these databases grow, the more expensive they become. The largest require their own co-located datacenters, complete with armed guards and their own access control systems. This centralized paradigm is forever subject to hacking, downtime, software licensing fees and upgrades, huge energy costs, hardware limitations, networking restrictions, technical support, IT training, and more. Today’s systems, it seems, are far from perfect.

Cryptid is a new open source identity system. It’s a low-cost, extremely flexible ID-issuing and verifying program, that can be useful for organizations of all sizes. Using Factom to place encrypted identity data on a blockchain, this lightweight program allows for a variety of uses and configurations, and even allows for variety in the types of ID card or token used.

Because the identity records, including a small photo and fingerprint file, are no larger than a few hundred kilobytes, Cryptid’s team was able to use Factom to store entire records onto a blockchain, which is timestamped on the bitcoin blockchain too. There is no local nor administrator server that needs to be run for others to access; all data is decentralized and accessible anywhere on the planet.

http://bravenewcoin.com/news/cryptid-open-source-identification-system-uses-the-blockchain-to-revolutionize-id/

Purse Announces $1 Million Funding, “Secret Bitcoin Project” Tritium



Purse, a startup specializing in helping online shoppers save when paying with bitcoin, has secured $1 million in funding from Barry Silbert’s Digital
Purse lets users sell off their unwanted Amazon gift cards at a discount, in exchange for bitcoins paid by the buyer. Users have reported savings of 10% to 20% on merchandise through the service.

The funding round, reported by CoinDesk, is the startup’s second in roughly a year. Previously, it secured $300,000 in funding to build new apps and improve the user experience. Its platform has since added new merchants in addition to Amazon.

As part of the announcement, Purse mentioned a “secret Bitcoin project” called Tritium, which would bring “new value to consumers and partners.”

Tritium, in its physical definition, is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Its nucleus contains three components: two neutrons in addition to the standard proton.

The funding is the industry’s first this month, which is likely to be a quiet one. Crypto industry investment this quarter has been relatively sparse, continuing a downtrend that started earlier this year. $27 million in investments have been announced this quarter, versus $117.6 million in Q4 2014, according to Finance Magnates data.

Venture investment has been increasingly shifting toward blockchain technologies, with decreasing focus on bitcoin as a currency.


http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/purse-announces-1-million-funding-secret-bitcoin-project-tritium/

'Hacker Buba' goes down road to strike again

Hacker Buba', who has been holding a UAE bank to ransom, has made good on his threat of leaking the details of many of its account holders.

Having struck the Sharjah bank last week, this time Buba made for the Invest Bank, a fourteen minute car ride away in Sharjah city, capital of the neighbouring Emirate to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Invest Bank was apparently blackmailed and ordered to pay 8,200 bitcoin (£2.1 million) or he'd start leaking corporate accounts.

Tweeting over @investbank_2, which has since been taken down, Hacker Buba started releasing the bank's sensitive details. When that account was taken down 50 others, apparently unaffiliated, picked up the job on 1 December. The tweets contained a link which went to six zip files contaiining the banks ‘crown jewels' including the card details of nearly one million customers. Tech news site The Daily Dot has reported that all this information was stored on the website of, “an Eastern European Basketball team apparently also hacked by Buba and used as temporary storage space.”

The mysterious ‘Hacker Buba' ran a similar scam on the Sharjah bank late last month, saying that if it did not acquiesce to his demands of 8,500 Bitcoin he would start leaking the account details of some of the banks prized clients including government officials and captains of industry. That's exactly what he did when the bank refused to pay up.

He initially tweeted an announcement of the details' sale on a twitter account that has since been suspended, called @hacked_invest, offering to sell 900 gigabytes worth of account details.

By the following Monday, having not received the money, Buba began tweeting out the details of 500 of the Sharjah Bank's customers.

According to Gulf News, a regional news outlet, Hacker Buba had also sent warning SMS and emails to several Sharjah Bank customers saying that their accounts were under his control and they too, would have to pay up in order to regain control of them.

http://www.scmagazineuk.com/hacker-buba-goes-down-road-to-strike-again/article/457799/

TransferWise Wants To Take Over The World



TransferWise co-founder and CEO Taavet Hinrikus took the stage at Disrupt London to tell his company’s founding story. TransferWise has had a big year, and it looks like 2016 will be a big one, as well.

TransferWise lets you save on bank fees when you need to make international transfers between multiple bank accounts. The startup’s secret sauce is a peer-to-peer model. For instance, if you have GBP and want to send EUR, TransferWise will automatically match you with people who want GBP and give you EUR in exchange.

But it doesn’t stop here, as TransferWise is totally transparent. Making transfers takes minutes, as the company takes care of everything once you have entered all the details. But how did Hinrikus come up with TransferWise’s idea?

“During my time at Skype when I realized this problem, at one point I moved from Tallinn to London. I had to go to a bank branch every month and move my money,” he said. “I looked at my statement and wow — first of all, it takes way too long for the money to arrive, and second I realized some money was missing.”

http://techcrunch.com/2015/12/07/transferwise-wants-to-take-over-the-world/

Pirated Copy of Fallout 4 Steals 4.88 Bitcoin

Fallout 4, an open world action role-playing video game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, officially launched on November 11. Apparently, game-lovers often download the pirated version of these games, but for one gamer, the illegal download cost him over $1500.

Last week, one Reddit user going by the name arkanoah posted, “4.88 BTC was stolen from me, BUT HOW?!”

When another Reddit user “rydan” asked whether a pirated version of Fallout 4 was downloaded, arkanoah’s reply was positive. However, the latter added that the software was checked with antivirus and nothing was found.

One Reddit user asked, “tell me something, kemosabe. if i custom write a virus, right now, do you think your antivirus program will catch it? why or why not?”, to which arkanoah replied “heuristic analysis will catch it”. However, most of other users said that it is unlikely that heuristic analysis will be able to detect it.

Arkanoah said the thief left 0.0095 btc in his wallet and that no transactions were made after 18th August.

Several users condemned the downloading of pirated software. While imthebest33333333 posted, “Serves you right for violating intellectual property”, another Reddit user theskepticalheretic wrote, “/u/arkanoah, you get what you deserve. Sorry for your loss, but not that sorry. Theft begat theft in this instance.”

Geek.com explained that after the stolen 4.88 bitcoin ($1894.95 at the time of writing) hit another wallet, “they were split up, mixed with more coins and are now impossible to trace.”


http://www.econotimes.com/Pirated-Copy-of-Fallout-4-Steals-488-Bitcoin-126864

Blockchain Notarization Service Stampery Simplifies Lawyers’ Tasks

Stampery, a service that certifies records and documents on the blockchain, says lawyers working with sensitive documents are one of its main user groups, according to International Business Times. The other two main groups are creatives looking to establish ownership rights and companies that generate prior art of intellectual property.

 

Lawyers receive a lot of documents and have to do a lot of due diligence, including getting documents notarized.

By using Stampery, they can drag and drop zip documents to Stampery rather than sending them in a CD to a notary.

Stampery provides irrefutable proof of the documents' existence and the day they were received.

Content certified on the blockchain, including emails, cannot be changed, deleted or forged, according to Stampery’s website.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/blockchain-notarization-stampery/

Hacking In The Bitcoin Ecosystem Can Be A Good Thing

When it comes to the concept of hacking, there is a fair bit of misconception regarding the “profession”. There are always two sides to a medallion, and the concept of hacking is no different in that regard. On the one hand, there are the criminal internet hackers, but there are also those who hack for the greater good. Not every hacking attempt is bad, as it will provide companies with valuable insights as to how their security is holding up.

http://themerkle.com/news/hacktivism-in-the-bitcoin-ecosystem-can-be-a-good-thing/

Building Consensus or “Kicking the Can down the Road”? – Scaling Bitcoin Hong Kong Showcases Core BIPs

The Hong Kong version of the Scaling Bitcoin workshop fulfilled its promise of delivering content from the leading developers in the Bitcoin Ecosystem. Although the bitcoin block size debate has been very adversarial, the spirit of the conference seemed more collaborative with occasionally heated, constructive debate over scaling the bitcoin network. We will ultimately have to wait to see if this translates to real consensus of bitcoin’s future.

On the first day, Adam Back, the President of Blockstream – a sponsor of the event, discussed fungibility in the context of scalability of bitcoin. Fungibility is when coins are equal and interchangeable, and a key property of any electronic cash system.

Back covered the positive as well as negative aspects of introducing fungibility mechanisms. Such fungibility mechanisms can increase the number of transactions or the size of the transactions. Some mechanisms also increase the degree of unspent transaction output (UTXO) as a side effect, which is really undesirable for the node size or scalability.

Back discussed the various tradeoffs of such mechanisms as CoinJoin, confidential transactions, linkable ring signatures, Zerocoin and Zerocash protocols, and “encrypted transactions” or “committed transactions.”

Back appears to like the last two examples. He said this:

http://allcoinsnews.com/2015/12/07/building-consensus-or-kicking-the-can-down-the-road-scaling-bitcoin-hong-kong-showcases-core-bips/