The global value of the Bitcoin — a digital currency invented in 2008 — has dropped nearly 30% in the last two days. The crash was likely caused by revelations that hackers stole 119,756 bitcoins — worth about $65 million at present prices — from the computer system of Bitfinex, a Bitcoin exchange based in Hong Kong. Bitfinex discovered the security breach early this week; the exchange halted trading on Tuesday. The result has been that the global bitcoin market has lost $1.5 billion in market capitalization.

Though people the world over trade bitcoins using open-source software and on bitcoin exchanges — many of which specialize in converting between bitcoins and specific, internationally recognized currencies — a recent article from Chabad declared that, under Jewish law, bitcoins are not kosher.

Jewish law forbids Jews from charging other Jews interest when lending them money. The rabbinic ruling on currencies requires that, if one person lends another a given amount of money, the borrower must return that same amount of money. The ruling is different when it comes to commodities: the borrower must return the value of the merchandise loaned to him or her in the first place, and not the exact merchandise or commodities loaned.
http://forward.com/news/world/346716/bitcoins-bad-week-currency-crashed-stolen-and-declared-unkosher/

Is Craig Wright the multimillionaire genius behind bitcoin: the digital currency now worth over £8bn and threatening to do for banks what Uber did to cab offices? Or does he just really want people to believe he is?

Earlier this year, we were granted an interview with Wright. GQ's Senior Commissioning Editor Stuart McGurk met him, taking along Dr Nicolas Courtois, a lecturer in cryptology at University College London and an expert in bitcoin, as GQ's expert witness.

As you'll hear from the extraordinary audio excerpt below, the encounter - which took place in an office on Tottenham Court Road, central London - grew ever more heated and profane, as Wright grew ever more furious at the questioning that was aimed to verify his claim.

"You've got this one thing," he said at one point. "If you don't like it, fuck off!"

http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/craig-wright-bitcoin-interview

The list of bitcoin thefts is far too long. Over the past, almost, eight years, we can roughly estimate $1 billion or more have been stolen. Each time, there is devastation for the individuals involved and the wider community as bitcoin’s security is brought to the forefront. This is followed by a backlash from the wider media and public who have been keen to disparage bitcoin ever since the first major hack in 2011 when many dismissed it as insecure. But, is there a solution or are we forever to live with these far too frequent theft stories?

For bitcoin to function and have any value it needs to be traded and moved from a to b. That means it needs hot wallets. So-called hot because they are available to anyone with skill. In bitcoin’s case, the talent pool is the entire world. Sooner or later, therefore, the wallet will be stolen.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/how-to-make-bitcoin-thefts-impossible/

[Be afraid: login details for 200 million Yahoo accounts offered for sale on the dark web]

Be afraid: login details for 200 million Yahoo accounts offered for sale on the dark web
If you’ve got a Yahoo, Inc. account you may want to reset your password with news that a hacker is currently offering login data for 200 million Yahoo accounts on the dark web.

The hacker selling the logins goes by the name of Peace_of_Mind (Peace) and is the same hacker behind the release of verified data dumps from both MySpace and LinkedIn.

According to Motherboard the Yahoo account details are being offered for sale on dark web marketplace The Real Deal for a price of 3 bitcoin, which at the time of writing is worth $1,650; Peace told the site that he has been privately trading the data for some time but only now decided to sell it openly.

Yahoo has neither confirmed or denied the allegation, saying only in a standard response that they are “aware of the claim” and that they were “committed to protecting the security of our users’ information and [they] take any such claim very seriously.”

“Our security team is working to determine the facts. Yahoo works hard to keep our users safe, and we always encourage our users to create strong passwords, or give up passwords altogether by using Yahoo Account Key, and use different passwords for different platforms.”

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2016/08/03/be-afraid-login-details-for-200-million-yahoo-accounts-offered-for-sale-on-the-dark-web/

Thomson Reuters has joined a consortium of the world’s biggest financial institutions that is working on how to use blockchain technology in global financial markets, the company said on Tuesday.

Blockchain technology powers the digital currency bitcoin, enabling data sharing across a network of individual computers. It has gained worldwide popularity due to its perceived usefulness in recording and keeping track of assets across practically all industries.

Thomson Reuters will be the first major data and technology provider to join R3, the consortium of more than 55 banks and other financial institutions. New York-based fintech firm R3 formed the consortium last year.


http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/thomson-reuters-joins-r3-blockchain-consortium-49397/

Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex said late on Tuesday it has suspended trading on its exchange after it discovered a security breach, according to a company statement on its website.

Bitfinex is one of the largest exchanges for trading digital currencies bitcoin, ether, and litecoin. It has offices in Europe and the United States and is known in the digital currency community for having a platform that has deep liquidity in the US dollar/bitcoin currency pair.

http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1998497/hong-kong-bitcoin-exchange-says-it-was-hacked-trading-suspended

The maker of ad-blocking browser Brave has raised $4.5m to expand its effort to let users voluntarily send bitcoin micropayments to their favorite websites in exchange for an ad-free experience.

When Brave Software first unveiled a version of the browser earlier this year, members of the media signed what has been called a cease-and-desist letter addressed to Brave. Signed by some of the biggest publishers in the world, the letter described what they perceived as the browser’s "blatantly illegal" blocking of their ad revenue.

Since then, the company’s founder has been engaging with those media outlets one-on-one in an effort to explain that Brave isn’t meant just to prevent Internet users from having their data mined, but to give media organizations a way to recover revenue from those who are already blocking ads.

In conversation with CoinDesk, Brave Software founder and CEO Brendan Eich said he intends to use the money to double the company's employees from 10 to 20 people and continue to help bridge the gap between content creators and users.

http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-browser-brave-raises-4-5-million-to-bridge-publishing-gap/

William Mougayar is the author of "The Business Blockchain", and a board advisor to the Ethereum Foundation, the non-profit that oversees the development of one of two blockchains seeking to popularize the ethereum software.

In this opinion piece, Mougayar offers his thoughts on the recent ethereum hard fork, opining on how he believes it showcases issues in current public blockchain governance.

http://www.coindesk.com/public-blockchains-community-vs-ecosystem/

The 4-hour Bistamp chart shows that the market sold price straight through $640 support, from where price has been slowly selling-off toward $600 and 4000 CNY.

Although 4hr MACD signals Sunday morning’s decline (magenta circle), the stochastics (top panel) are grouping at their minimum, while RSI has achieved a previous lower low (horizontal blue annotation). The stochastic and RSI indications imply that price may need to correct when decline to $600 has been achieved.

The present decline happens below a bearish 1-day chart (MACD declining below its signal line), as well as a bearish 3-day chart where both MACD and the stochastics declining. Hence, we may have to wait a week or two for the decline to bottom out and find support.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-price-continues-medium-term-decline/

BTCUSD finally made a strong breakout of its consolidation pattern or symmetrical triangle formation. Price broke to the downside, signaling that sellers are getting the upper hand that further losses are likely.

The chart pattern is approximately $100 in height so the resulting breakdown could last by the same amount. The moving averages are still oscillating but it’s likely the 100 SMA will make a downward crossover after this sharp break lower. These indicators are around the top of the triangle so these could hold as dynamic resistance in the event of a pullback.

Stochastic is already indicating oversold conditions so buyers might be ready to regain control. Similarly RSI is in the oversold area, which means that sellers might need to take a break soon.

A pullback could find resistance at the $650 broken triangle support or at the resistance at $660. A break past that area could show that bullish momentum is back in place and that the longer-term uptrend has a chance to resume.
http://www.forexminute.com/btcusd-price-technical-analysis-bears-taking-control/

(TNS) -- Chelan County, Wash., Public Utility District (PUD) commissioners Monday capped an 18-month public discussion by approving new rates and service conditions for energy-intense server farms, including Bitcoin operations.

None of the Bitcoin-focused business owners who have participated in discussion and negotiation of the new rates and conditions were present for the unanimous vote.

The new “high-density load (HDL)” rate classification is called “Schedule 35.” It applies to customers whose operations consume 250 kilowatt hours of power per square foot of operational floor space per year, but require less than 5 average megawatts of power at any time.


http://www.govtech.com/budget-finance/Chelan-County-Wash-Ramps-Up-Rates-for-Bitcoin-Server-Farms.html

“Guess who’s back, back again.”

Charlie Shrem, former CEO of BitInstant and one of the founders of the Bitcoin Foundation, announced that he is free from prison. Charlie Shrem remains on supervised release and cannot give press interviews. In a blog post titled “Onward” Shrem seemed to be in good spirits.

    “Currently I’m home in southern Pennsylvania where Courtney and I have relocated temporarily. We will spend the summer months enjoying the outdoors, good food, family, friends and the small things that I missed while I was away, and at the same time transition back into normal life. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be back home.”

http://coinjournal.net/charlie-shrem-released-prison/

Lily Allen, English singer and songwriter, recently tweeted to more than 5.8 million Twitter followers about Bitcoin. She is one of the biggest celebrities in the world to mention the crypto-currency.

Bitcoin now more stable than the pound. Lolz
7:18 PM - 11 Jul 2016

In January 2014, Allen admitted her regret at denying “hundreds of thousands of bitcoin” in exchange for an online concert. She was asked to live stream a concert to the virtual world called Second Life. The unknown organizer offered her bitcoin.

She hashtagged herself an “idiot.” The pop singer tweeted: “About five years ago someone asked me to stream a gig live for hundreds of thousNds of bitcoins, “as if” I said.”


https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/lily-allen-bitcoin-stable-over-pound-twitter/

Good news for advocates of cryptocurrency and the Bitcoin community. A founding member and former vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, Charlie Shrem, has been released from imprisonment by U.S criminal authorities. The co-founder of BitInstant has been in a high-security federal prison camp in Pennsylvania since March 30, 2015.

Shrem sent out this message to the public on Tuesday: “A few weeks ago I was released from Lewisburg FPC. I want to thank the hundreds of people who wrote, sent books, money, magazines, and their support. There are no words to describe my appreciation and affection to all of you. Thank you so much.

Currently I’m home in southern Pennsylvania where Courtney and I have relocated temporarily. We will spend the summer months enjoying the outdoors, good food, family, friends and the small things that I missed while I was away, and at the same time transition back into normal life. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be back home. I’m excited to move forward onto new projects and looking forward to seeing what everyone has been working on!”

http://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/bitcoin-entrepreneur-charlie-shrem-released-from-u-s-prison/

In a quote, the President of Western Union Business Solutions Kerry Agiasotis says,

    “Buying and selling overseas has never been easier, it’s now possible to make an international business payment in minutes… Since the launch of the WU EDGE platform businesses across the world have used the platform to support their aspirations to grow, invest and deliver the jobs of the future. We are very proud of today’s announcement; we view ourselves as business partners to our SME customers.”

i think western union more famous in real life (not online world), the new system called Western Union edge will be launch soon , any effect for bitcoin market ?

news about it : 
http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/07/18/western-union-wu-edge-b2c-platform-competes-with-bitcoin/
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/western-union-improves-edge-platform-141402314.html
http://business.westernunion.com/wuedge

Joining forces with Bitmain is an important step forward for us, which will not only benefit you as our wallet, API and block explorer user, but also enforces our collective goal as bitcoin users, to continue the growth and advancement of the bitcoin ecosystem.

Apart from being the leader in bitcoin mining hardware with the Antminer series of bitcoin miners, Bitmain also operates Hashnest, a cloud-mining platform, Antpool, one of the largest bitcoin mining pools, and BTC.COM, a block explorer and technology platform which is the future host to Blocktrail services.

Rest assured that during this transition of Blocktrail services into BTC.com, all of our services will continue to function as normal and no changes will be required on your side.

Its been our pleasure to be your service provider of choice as Blocktrail, and we are continuing our commitment of providing you the highest level of bitcoin services under the BTC.com brand, together with the Bitmain family.

Sincerely,
The Blocktrail Team

https://blog.blocktrail.com/2016/07/blocktrail-is-now-a-part-of-the-bitmain-family/

 While many people in the U.S. are still skeptical that bitcoin will become a mainstream currency, both private and public sectors are gaining interest in the idea that the underlying blockchain technology can be used to solve a wide variety of security and transactional problems.

In the private arena, industries are evaluating blockchain technologies to solve security and payment issues along with broader contract and verification uses. Deloitte published a report stating it is likely blockchain technology will soon be used in industries such as banking, insurance, energy trading and even media.  The Deloitte report includes use cases for each industry and describes how the banking industry could use the technology to streamline compliance and speed facilitation of payments, the insurance industry could use the technology to manage and pay claims in a transparent manner that also helps avoid types of fraud, the energy trading industry could use the technology to increase the speed of exchange and lower transaction costs, and the entertainment industry could use the technology to pay artists automatically when their media is played. However, beyond specific industries, ideas related to smart contracts, auditability, identity verification, and property ownership verification could be used broadly across all sectors, and technology giants such as IBM are gearing up for the new blockchain uses.  IBM recently released a new service to allow companies to test and run blockchain applications.

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/the-blockchain-beyond-bitcoin-68985/

Was bitcoin’s price spike yesterday in response to the attempted Turkish military coup? Current events continue to make the case for bitcoin as an investment, according to Orange Peel Investments, an investment firm that describes itself as “long” on bitcoin. The company contributed an opinion about bitcoin’s role as an investment in Seeking Alpha.

 

Turkish citizens, alarmed by an attempted military coup, began withdrawing cash from ATMs and banks, not knowing what the future held for their financial security. The same thing happened in recent years when uncertainties afflicted Cyprus and Greece. The U.S. witnessed a run on banks in 2008 in response to the housing market collapse.

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/turkish-coup-further-cause-to-consider-investing-in-bitcoin/

The Bitcoin has transformed the online gambling industry in a very fundamental way by introducing a currency that did not have ties to any major financial institutions. The virtual money has had an interesting history that is worth a look at before a punter decides to use the crypto coinage.

A recent article elaborates on the history of Bitcoin explaining how Tokyo Japan headquartered Mt. Gox was once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange platform until it filed for bankruptcy in 2014. The exchange claimed it had lost 850,000 of its bitcoins, which were worth more than $450 million at the time. It claimed hackers exploited the site’s “transactional malleability.”

The Japanese government after the Mt Gox fiasco became more aware about the need to regulate the growing use of digital currencies. The virtual coinage has gained the attention of established Japanese companies some of which were considering the possibility of a society without cash.

Japanese media outlets revealed recently that the former CEO of the now defunct Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange Mark Karpeles has been granted bail after almost a year in jail by the Tokyo District Court when he came up with the set bail of ¥10 million ($94,500 USD.)

The French national Karpeles, who is 31, made international headlines in August of 2015, when he was arrested in Tokyo on charges of unlawfully extracting and accessing private records. Police said Karpeles went into the Mt Gox`s exchange U.S.hosted trading platform in 2013 and altered the data in his personal account two times. Japanese authorities also gave Karpeles additional charges of embezzlement and said that Karpeles’ used the funds for personal expenses.

Mr. Karpeles isn’t going anywhere for now at least. The bail conditions set by the courts revealed that the young French national is required to remain in the country until he goes to trial in Japanese court for his alleged crimes.

http://www.online-casinos.com/news/13608-bitcoins-mt-gox-ceo-granted-bail-japan

[Congressional Resolution Calls on US Government to Support Blockchain Tech]

Congressional Resolution Calls on US Government to Support Blockchain Tech
A new resolution submitted to the US House of Representatives calls for the development of "a national policy for technology" that would include digital currencies and blockchain technology.

It invokes the idea of bitcoin without calling it by name – referring to "alternative non-fiat currencies" – and blockchain tech, which it says has the potential to "fundamentally change" how trust and security are established in online transactions.

The non-binding resolution is sponsored by Rep Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Indiana; and Representative Tony Cardenas, a Democrat from California, is co-sponsoring the bill.

The resolution goes on to say that alternative currencies are "leveraging technology" to improve security and increase transparency in ways that could allow them to supplant the "decades-old payment technology" used by financial institutions.

http://www.coindesk.com/congressional-resolution-calls-us-government-support-blockchain/