Latest posts of: MicroGuy

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today issued two administrative rulings regarding digital currency. And the government has apparently decided to go with the nuclear option.

The first ruling published today relates to the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency trading platform, while the second ruling discusses the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency payment system.

In ruling FIN-2014-R011, FinCEN states that any and all cryptocurrency exchanges must become licensed as a money transmitter including crypto-only exchanges:

"As explained in the Guidance, a person is an exchanger and a money transmitter if the person accepts convertible virtual currency from one person and transmits it to another person as part of the acceptance and transfer of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency."

In ruling FIN-2014-R012, the agency confirms that any and all payment processors are obliged to register as money transmitters, significantly increasing the cost of entry in becoming a digital payments provider.

"As described above, the Company is an exchanger under the Guidance because it engages as a business in accepting and converting the customer’s real currency into virtual currency for transmission to the merchant. The fact that the Company uses its cache of Bitcoin to pay the merchant is not relevant to whether it fits within the definition of money transmitter."

Once labeled a money transmitter, a business wishing to continue operating must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to become licensed in each of the 50 states. And that’s only the beginning of the regulatory costs and legal hoop jumping.

In addition, companies are required to register with FinCEN, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of its exposure to money laundering, implement an Anti-Money Laundering Program based on such risk assessment, and comply with various record keeping, reporting and transaction monitoring obligations, in addition to meeting several other requirements.

It is interesting to note that the government classifies Bitcoin as a digital “property” for taxation purposes, but as a digital “money” for regulatory and licensing purposes.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/fincen-ruling-us-government-ramps-up-war-on-cryptocurrency/

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today issued two administrative rulings regarding digital currency. And the government has apparently decided to go with the nuclear option.

The first ruling published today relates to the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency trading platform, while the second ruling discusses the application of FinCEN regulations to a virtual currency payment system.

In ruling FIN-2014-R011, FinCEN states that any and all cryptocurrency exchanges must become licensed as a money transmitter including crypto-only exchanges:

"As explained in the Guidance, a person is an exchanger and a money transmitter if the person accepts convertible virtual currency from one person and transmits it to another person as part of the acceptance and transfer of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency."

In ruling FIN-2014-R012, the agency confirms that and and all payment processors are obliged to register as money transmitters, significantly increasing the cost of entry in becoming a payment service provider.

"As described above, the Company is an exchanger under the Guidance because it engages as a business in accepting and converting the customer’s real currency into virtual currency for transmission to the merchant. The fact that the Company uses its cache of Bitcoin to pay the merchant is not relevant to whether it fits within the definition of money transmitter."

Once labeled a money transmitter, a business wishing to continue operating must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to become licensed in each of the 50 states. And that’s only the beginning of the regulatory costs and legal hoop jumping.

In addition, companies are required to register with FinCEN, conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of its exposure to money laundering, implement an Anti-Money Laundering Program based on such risk assessment, and comply with various record keeping, reporting and transaction monitoring obligations, in addition to meeting several other requirements.

It is interesting to note that the government classifies Bitcoin as a digital “property” for taxation purposes, but as a digital “money” for regulatory and licensing purposes.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/fincen-ruling-us-government-ramps-up-war-on-cryptocurrency/

ALTCoin Press is now getting about 50K visitors per month and I thought it would be cool to give back to the community. Well, it may help me too if things work out as expected! Tongue

About 8 months ago, I made the following subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/altcoinforum/ Then I basically, left it unused for 8 months. Today I had an idea on how to revive it by putting a Reddit widget in the sidebar of http://altcoinpress.com/ displaying the top 5 upvoted posts (see below).

That widget (now installed) will get 50,000+ monthly page views. Since there are currently only 14 subscribers, it should be quite easy to get your link or comment upvoted into the top 5. That means a huge chunk of exposure at no cost for your thoughts, idea, etc.

Please feel free to comment below with your ideas and suggestions. Cheesy

The controversial altcoin exchange mcxNOW has just announced that it will be closing for maintenance November 15th to address problems with the exchange’s wallets.

Today, a notice appeared on the company’s homepage saying that customers should withdrawal their coins before the deadline or risk losing them forever.

"All wallets here will be removed to make way for a new wallet system meaning you will need to withdraw all your cryptocurrency holdings prior to this cutoff point. Any coins left in mcxNOW at the cutoff point will be destroyed."

The announcement also states that some currently supported coins will not return.

"Existing wallets and all backups are going to be shredded to maintain privacy of users. Some coins currently on mcxNOW will not return. Thank you for your patience while we try to keep mcxNOW one of the best platforms for cryptocurrency.'

A discussion thread on bitcointalk.org created by usahero is questioning the timing and motives of the site's administrator.

"The scam site known for selling illegal securities, insider trading, money laundering, verbally abusing its clients and leading a cult-like long term scam conspiracy, is temporarily closing its doors due to incompetence of the main administrator and site creator."

Yesterday, it was reported the company had recently lost 350 million dogecoin (worth $85,000) due to its failure to update exchange wallets before the client update. The exchange, which is popular with MaxCoin traders, is operated by an individual using the online moniker 'RealSolid'. Very little is known about this person other than he is based in Australia.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/crypto-exchange-mcxnow-to-shred-customer-wallets/

California businessman and cryptocurrency trader, Skye Bonow, has decided to file suit against the world’s #1 altcoin exchange, Cryptsy, after having his own personal computer compromised.

In court documents filed yesterday in the 15th Judicial Court of Florida, Silver Law Firm alleges that Cryptsy violated the state’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by failing to provide critical information regarding security risks and customer fund management protocols.

Cryptsy founder, Paul Vernon, in a blog post today called the charges baseless and believes the timing of the news is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign aimed at a financial settlement.

He encouraged the site’s 300,000+ users to keep their computers safe at all times and provided several security tips.

"In this case the attack on the user making the claim came from within their own computer. This is currently one of the most common attacks by hackers. While we try to educate our users on how to secure their local environment, we ultimately have no control of a user's computer system."

Bonow, according to the court filing, lost 140 BTC in January after his exchange account was drained through a series of internal transfers and cryptocurrency trades, made by the hacker, on the Cryptsy trading platform. At the time of the loss, the bitcoins were valued at approximately $112,000.00.

Apparently, the plaintiff was previously unaware that passwords stored on personal computers can be used by hackers to access financial records and online trading accounts.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/california-man-has-computer-hacked-then-blames-crypto-exchange/

FLORIDA – Tampa based exotic strip club, 2001 Odyssey, is now offering its online customers the ability to remotely release physical cash down onto live strippers, as they dance on the main stage, using Bitcoin.

“I think Tampa may be breaking new ground with this,” said Glen Gilmore, a consultant and digital marketing professor at Rutgers University. Gilmore sees it as a major shift in marketing.

“It’s a dramatic shift in marketing, and I guess what’s happening in Tampa just reinforces the fact that traditional marketing is yielding to new media and new marketing.”

Thanks to its partnership with BitPay, the “Make It Rain Machine” allows the club's online customers to drop as much as $100.00 at a time in crypto-paid dollars from 2001’s ceiling onto its gyrating dancers. Online tippers get to watch live as the cold hard cash falls down on the appreciative performers.

Rolling thunder sound effects accompany the fiat shower while the DJ announces the rainmaker’s name and dedication. The club manager and DJ can also be tipped over the web using Bitcoin.

In the 5,000-square-foot club, cameras are mounted above the dressing room’s entrance watching the women apply makeup and changing their lingerie. Another sits above the main stage not far from the neon signs hailing the “Make It Rain Machine.”

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/use-bitcoin-to-remotely-rain-physical-cash-down-onto-live-strippers/

Yesterday, during an interview with Jason Burack, host of the YouTube program WallStForMainSt, Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne, predicted that within 7 to 8 years cryptocurrency would rock the very foundations of the World.

During the YouTube Interview, the Indiana-born entrepreneur discusses a wide range of topics – from his fear of being “locked up” in prison – to his vision of how digital currency will alter life as we know it.

Candidly sharing his thoughts about jail, Byrne said:

"I have ticked off a lot of people in Washington. So I took up yoga the last few years, because it’s the only sport you can do in a jail cell."

In regards to cryptocurrency, the CEO had this to say:

"The people that are involved in Crypto (have a sense) that this will be bigger than the Internet. It could be a bigger change for society than the Internet itself."

Many of Patrick’s comments resonated with my vision of the future landscape, and serve to reinforce my belief that alternative currencies are the wave of the future.

This writer can envision the day where Goldcoin (GLD) is the number one cryptocurrency around the globe, bringing freedom and independence to a corrupted system previously controlled by the banking elite.

Patrick M. Byrne is the CEO of the Internet retailer Overstock.com. Byrne received his B.A. from Dartmouth, studied at Cambridge University as a Marshall Scholar, and earned a PhD in Philosophy from Stanford University. He co-founded Overstock.com in 1997 and became CEO in 1999.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/patrick-byrne-cryptocurrency-will-be-bigger-than-the-internet-itself/

SnapCard hopes to convert San Francisco into the Crypto City by the Bay, as it brings two altcoins out of the closet and into plain sight with its massive 500 POS terminal giveaway, beginning next month.

The digital currency payment provider has decided to give 500 merchants in the San Francisco area the equipment required to accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at no cost. The company announced its promotional campaign today, which will give away free tablet-based point-of-sale (POS) systems to participating merchants throughout November.

SnapCard operations manager, Jack Jia, said today that the region’s longstanding association with digital currency startups makes it the perfect place for the ambitious project, stating:

“SnapCard is headquartered in San Francisco and with thousands of local ‘bitcoiners’ and millions of international visitors flocking into San Francisco, we feel that starting locally is the best first step for us as we embark on a campaign to increase international awareness of digital currencies.”

The Android-based terminals allow merchants to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Dogecoin (DOGE). Once the terminals are installed in merchant locations, future software updates will allow merchants to expand the number of altcoins accepted.

Considering the city’s rich gold history, it’s only natural to expect the San Fransisco natives to demand a Goldcoin (GLD) update to the terminals over the coming months.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural center and a leading financial hub of the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/san-francisco-crypto-fans-happy-and-gay-after-snapcard-announcement/

Today, BitPay’s Chief Compliance Officer, Tim Byun, submitted his company’s response to the New York Department of Financial Services’ (NYDFS) proposed regulations for virtual currency businesses, also known as BitLicense.

Ben Lawsky, New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, is spearheading new legislation that would create an unlevel playing field for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The BitLicense would essentially handicap Bitcoin and make it both impractical and embarrassing to use. The restrictions would basically paint Bitcoin users as suspicious cyber criminals.

Byun appealed to Superintendent Lawsky for common sense in today’s letter:

"Eliminate the need for names, account numbers, and physical address to be collected for each transaction. Merchants on Broadway do not collect such information for each transaction whether via cash for a hotdog or via debit cards to attend a show."

The BitPay letter wisely points out four key areas where the proposed New York regulation misses the mark. But the identity requirement alone is a deadly silver bullet that Lawsky and his banker puppet masters intend to fire directly into the heart of digital currency adopters across the Empire State.

Byun understands the urgency of the situation and in his blog post today encouraged the entire cryptocurrency community to take a stand now against these new regulations before it's too late.

"If you have not submitted your comments to the NYDFS during this comment-period, we strongly suggest you do so during the next comment-period, as every voice represents a bitcoin-related entrepreneur, industry, or innovation."

To voice your opinion and speak out on behalf of Bitcoin and digital currencies around the globe, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has created a website that explains how you can help - before the hammer falls. https://act.eff.org/action/stop-the-bitlicense

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/bitpay-asks-for-help-in-saving-bitcoin-from-banker-puppet-ben-lawsky/

Just as Goldcoin lead developer, Amir Eslampanah, prepares to unveil his latest client, prominent South African businessman and investor, Jason Swart, announced today that his first Goldcoin conference will be held in the “The Friendly City” of Port Elizabeth.

Swart explains why he likes Goldcoin’s potential:

"As South Africans, I truly believe Goldcoin is something we as a nation could get behind, as South Africa has always been tied to Gold and in particular another Gold coin, the Krugerrand. So to say Goldcoin makes sense to us, well is an understatement."

Goldcoin (GLD), which features a unique 51% attack defense, which has seen its ups and downs over the past year, is currently trading at a fraction of its all-time high which was set back in December of 2013.

However, the digital currency has seen renewed interest in recent days as speculation begins to grow around the long-awaited client scheduled to be released at the end of November.

Swart plans on hosting a series of conferences with the kick-off event beginning November 29th, in Port Elizabeth, SA. The main theme of the conference series will be: Cryptocurrency: Bitcoin and the New GoldCoin for SA. Exact times and locations will be announced later this month.

At each event, there will be displays of mining equipment with live mining for people to learn how coins are generated. Swart will be giving lectures on cryptocurrency basics with a demonstration of the new wallet, including mobile wallet. There will also be transfers conducted to demonstrate how fast Goldcoin can move funds from SA to the US and back again.

In addition, information will be made available to explain how attendees can invest in, and become involved in Goldcoin. Details regarding event times and locations will be provided soon at: GLDTalk.org.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/south-african-businessman-to-host-goldcoin-conference-series/

Over the past 48 hours, the Dogecoin community has been on a roller-coaster ride worthy of an ABC Movie of the Week. But just as the bouncing buggy approached its peak, the author of this thrilling narrative, “Alex Green”, decided it was time to get off the ride.

Moolah is a European currency exchange, founded in January 2014, by an individual calling himself, Alex Green. The company, which focuses primarily on Dogecoin, and claims to have over 75,000 registered users, made an announcement Tuesday that it would be closing its doors due to rising costs and declining revenue.

However, the following day, Green made another post saying the company was in contact with several VC firms and could remain afloat by scaling back its consumer business and focusing exclusively on merchant solutions.

"We’ll be focusing on what we do best, merchant solutions. A simple but solid API for merchants. Easy storefronts for people wishing to sell good and services online. Instant conversion to FIAT with quick and easy payouts in local currency. Retail solutions."

On Wednesday, the same day that Moohla apparently had found a second life, Dogecoin Founder Jackson Palmer, posted a Google document revealing Green’s numerous identities and alleged criminal past. According to the document, Alex Green is actually the internet scammer “Ryan Kennedy”, also known as “Ryan Humble,” and “Ryan Gentle,” among others.

These revelations led to Green’s announcement today that he would be stepping down as Moolah’s CEO. The embattled founder went on to say that his identity was irrelevant.

"I would like to start by saying that in context of the below, my identity is irrelevant. My identity becomes relevant if I break the law, which is something that neither myself nor my employees have done. To be as clear as I can, I could have been born as John Smith, and it wouldn’t matter."

Many people in the Dogecoin community are hoping that Green’s resignation today will bring an end to this ugliest of chapters. Perhaps they might chalk this up as another learning experience and a lesson learned to avoid exchanges in the future that have sketchy characters operating within their management teams.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/dogecoin-community-shocked-as-bizzare-moolah-drama-takes-final-twist/

Remember the pain and suffering we all experienced when China banned Bitcoin last year? Well, a new form of punishment is on the horizon for Bitcoin thanks to New York’s Superintendent of Financial Services, Benjamin Lawsky. This new artificially imposed homicide might as well be called – Death by Regulation.

Imagine walking up to a New York street vendor in Times Square to purchase a foot-long hot dog and being asked to provide your name and home address. If you’re paying with cash, no need to fret. But if you’re paying in Bitcoin or some other digital currency, be prepared to answer a series of questions before enjoying your tasty treat.

The State of New York is proposing BitLicense, a set of rules and regulations that would mandate licenses for merchants that accept Bitcoin and its digital cousins. The proposal creates expensive costs and barriers-of-entry for vendors, and infringes upon the rights of both businesses and casual users alike, according to a recent article published by the electronic frontier foundation.

The fact is, the World looks to New York for guidance as it relates to financial and banking regulation and if this proposed legislation passes, it would mean an end to Bitcoin in New York, and likely set a wrench into motion that could “gum up” the entire cryptocurrency machine. In essence, the Bitlicense would become the Ebola Virus of digital currency with Benjamin Lawsky becoming “patient zero”.

The open comment period on these regulations is expected to end soon, after which time, the Department of Financial Services will release an updated version of its proposed regulatory framework. That means that digital currency adopters worldwide have a limited amount of time to speak out against these new proposals or face regulation that is sure to strike a crippling blow to cryptocurrencies across the globe.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/new-york-looks-to-slap-digital-currency-with-death-sentence/

- by Chris Thompson

There exist hundreds of alternative coins. Many of these coins are effectively copies of prior released ones with minor specification alterations to source code. As specified in the course of the book I am writing, coins have differing coin supplies, block times, timestamping methods, hashing algorithms and so on.

Bitcoin is not classed as an alternative coin because it was, of course, the first cryptocurrency created. It paved the way of all the other coins to follow. Bitcoin dominates the space of cryptocurrency in terms of the market capitalisation it possesses and the much higher media attention it has achieved.

Other reasons why so many alternative cryptocurrencies have become available are:

Founders create their coin as a viable competitor to Bitcoin. Competition within the cryptocurrency space is seen by many to be healthy.
Some communities have focused on certain industries, charities, themes and people in the marketing of their coin. Sometimes it is the name of the coin that determines or influences its underlying purpose or audience.
Developers use the source code of prior coins to which they add/substitute their own innovative code. For example, the developers of Megacoin invented the Kimoto Gravity Well Difficulty Re-Target Algorithm. This was then adopted by over one hundred other coins.

A lot of alternative cryptocurrencies fail to gain traction within the space. The reasons for this becoming the case could be a lack of developer interest, a lacklustre community following or a fall out between the initial founders, developers and marketing team. Nevertheless, a lot can be learnt from the failure of alternatives by all coin communities. As soon as they see how things can fail, they are more prepared to improve upon past mistakes by others.

Simply put, the altcoin space can be described as an “experimental playground” in which certain innovative features can be built, tested and then maybe implemented.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/why-are-there-so-many-alternative-cryptocurrencies/

Today, Kevin Sweeney, Director of Engineering at Vimeo, posted on Twitter that the video-sharing website wants to integrate Bitcoin into its payment system and is currently in the process of working through the red tape.

BitPay was quick to make a tweet offering its services to the company:

Lately, Bitcoin has been on a roll with merchants like Overstock.com, Dish Network, and PayPal announcing payment integrations. Many experts are speculating that soon digital currencies like Bitcoin will become commonplace across the entire globe.

Vimeo is a U.S.-based video-sharing website on which users can upload, share and view videos. The company was founded in November 2004. As of December 2013, Vimeo attracts over 100 million unique visitors per month and more than 22 million registered users. Vimeo On Demand, which was launched in March 2013, is a digital distribution platform designed to help creators sell their films and video series.

Bitcoin is a decentralized payment system created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and introduced as open-source software in 2009. Payments are recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account, which is called Bitcoin.

Nakamoto vanished into the night in early 2010 with over 1 million bitcoins that he had mined while maintaining the lion’s share of the network hashrate.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/vimeo-works-to-integrate-bitcoin-payments-into-vod/

It’s been nearly a year since Goldcoin Lead Developer, Amir Eslampanah, first announced his bold plan to rewrite the Bitcoin codebase and create a truly customized and unique java client. Now, finally, after months of laboring over miles of code, an alpha will be born this month and released unto the open-source wild.

For ten months he has labored in his private computer laboratory creating the building blocks that will propel Goldcoin closer to its destination of reaching critical mass. Eslampanah explained over Skype:

"In terms of wallet functionality, modularity, security, and sheer performance, the Goldcoin wallet will be unrivaled. Block download times will also be decreased considerably thanks to on-the-fly compression and multi-threaded download capability."

After finding the standard Bitcoin codebase not suitable as a cryptocurrency foundation, Akumaburn (as he is known on the forums), set out to create something bigger, something better, something he could call his very own.

The new client would make Goldcoin the first mineable cryptocurrency built on Java, the first to rewrite the Bitcoin codebase, and the first to support multiple cryptocurrencies. In an industry that awards innovation, this new application could become a winner. On October 17th, the world will get its first view of the young developer’s latest masterpiece.

Goldcoin (GLD) is a popular digital currency that allows consumers to make online purchases with little to no fee. Goldcoin is currently trading at just under one cent per coin with a market capitalization of $210,212.00 according to Coinmarketcap.com.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/goldcoin-scientist-set-to-release-mysterious-java-client/

Bitcoin’s chief scientist, Gavin Andresen (aka Gavin Bell), stated in a blog post yesterday that Bitcoin needs to increase the number of transactions allowed on the network by raising the maximum block size over time. This will require a hard fork, which is a mandatory and somewhat risky update to the client software.

During the early years of Bitcoin, before Satoshi Nakamoto vanished and left Gavin holding the bag, Bitcoin’s infamous founder rolled-out several half-baked solutions to denial-of-service attacks. One of those “fixes” was to reduce the maximum block size from infinite to 1MB. The plan was always to later raise that limit as time allowed and as transaction volume increased.

There is already a general consensus in the community that something needs to change in order to increase the transactions per second limit. Agreeing on exactly how to accomplish this goal is where a consensus has not been reached. There are loads of potential solutions and scenarios.

Here is Gavin’s favorite plan of attack:

"Roll out a hard fork that increases the maximum block size, and implements a rule to increase that size over time, very similar to the rule that decreases the block reward over time."

The bitcoin network is currently processing around 60K transactions per day. So for now, the data requirements of the bitcoin network aren’t huge which means the 1MB block size is currently sufficient.

However, the 1MB block size may lead to issues down the road as Bitcoin reaches mass adoption. Gavin said in his blog post yesterday that he believes the 21 million maximum bitcoin limit should remain unchanged. But who knows what might happen in the future?

Gavin Andresen is the Amherst, Massachusetts based chief scientist at the Bitcoin Foundation. He has access to the alert key that allows him to broadcast messages of his choosing to all clients. Some critics have argued that power makes him the central ruling figure of Bitcoin and a potential single point of failure.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/10/bitcoin-chief-scientist-its-time-to-put-a-fork-in-bitcoin/

According to the latest documents filed in US District Court, FTC lawyers allege that not only did Butterfly Labs engage in deceptive business practices and use pre-sold machines to mine bitcoins, employees went so far as to order custom foam pitchforks to mock their frustrated customers. Helen Wong, an FTC attorney wrote to the court:

"Further demonstrating Defendants’ disregard for their customers, they used corporate funds to make and mass order red foam pitchforks mocking their own customers, emblazoned with the words, “BFL is late! Y U NO SHIP!”

Last week, a federal judge shut down Butterfly Labs, a Missouri-based firm that manufactures specialized computers for mining bitcoins, alleging fraud and criminal wrongdoing within the company.

Today, the judge extended the restraining order until Friday to give both sides time to agree on a plan for reopening the notorious bitcoin business. He also appointed U.S. Magistrate John Maughmer to mediate the discussions, which are ongoing.

Bitcoin is a new currency that was released in 2009 by a person (or group) using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are decentralized and require no middle man. More and more merchants are beginning to accept the currency as it gains traction with the mainstream.

Nakamoto vanished into thin air in early 2010 with over 1 million bitcoins he mined while controlling the majority of the bitcoin network's hashpower.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/09/butterfly-labs-ordered-foam-pitchforks-to-mock-customers/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeuCHhm1rVg

The local NBC-affiliate, 41 Action News, in Kansas City, Missouri, where the Butterfly Labs headquarters is located aired a story tonight about the embattled Bitcoin mining company.

Last week, the business was shut down by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which accused the company of fraud and public misrepresentation in a complaint filed in United States District Court.

On September 18th, the agency was granted permission by the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri to freeze Butterfly Labs’ assets and shutter the company pending trial, according to documents released by the FTC.

Yesterday, Butterfly Labs issued a response to the allegations promising not to go down without a fight.

"Butterfly Labs intends to defend our business and our nascent and promising industry. The government wants to shut Butterfly Labs down, and we are not going away without a fight to vindicate bitcoin, our company, and our employees."

Mining is an essential part of Bitcoin. It rewards miners who use their computers to maintain the network. Since Bitcoin has no central authority, it relies on the community to process and record transactions which are recorded in a public ledger.

Currently, about 13.30 million bitcoins have been mined; the system is designed to cap production at 21 million coins.

Full Story: http://altcoinpress.com/2014/09/butterfly-labs-story-airs-on-local-nbc-affiliate/

We're looking for 2 writers to represent the Altcoin community who can write an article or two per week.

Each writer will receive 5% of all website ad revenue paid bi-weekly for the duration of his employment. The successful candidates should be creative and have excellent writing skills. He/she should also keep in mind a photo with contact info will be displayed here: http://altcoinpress.com/about-us/

If you are interested in this position, please complete the following application: http://altcoinpress.com/write-for-us/

Thank you.