Category Archives: News
22 Bitcoin Companies Issued Subpoena by New York Department of Financial Services
22 Companies Called to New York to Answer Questions about Bitcoin
The New York State Department of Financial Services has subpoenaed 22 companies in an effort to better understand the uses and implications of alternative currency Bitcoin.
“If virtual currencies remain a virtual Wild West for narcotraffickers and other criminals, that would not only threaten our country’s national security, but also the very existence of the virtual currency industry as a legitimate business enterprise,” said Benjamin M. Lawsky, Superintendent of Financial Services, in a release. “We believe that – for a number of reasons – putting in place appropriate regulatory safeguards for virtual currencies will be beneficial to the long-term strength of the virtual currency industry.”
Forbes published a list of 22 companies that were subpoenaed due to their involvement in Bitcoin.
- BitInstant
- BitPay
- Coinabul
- Coinbase Inc.
- CoinLab
- Coinsetter
- Dwolla
- eCoin Cashier
- Payward, Inc.
- TrustCash Holdings Inc.
- ZipZap
- Butterfly Labs
- Andreesen Horowitz
- Bitcoin Opportunity Fund
- Boost VC Bitcoin Fund
- Founders Fund
- Google Ventures
- Lightspeed Venture Partners
- Tribeca Venture Partners
- Tropos Funds
- Union Square Ventures
- Winklevoss Capital Management
Below is the full release providing context on the subpoena.
CC image by wallyg
Top Bitcoin News Last Week: Bitcoin is Money, BYU, Android Wallets, Mt. Gox
Bitcoin News
A roundup of the top Bitcoin news from August 5 to August 11:
Monday, August 5
Tuesday, August 6
Thursday, August 8
Friday, August 9
Sunday, August 11
Vulnerability Discovered for Android Bitcoin Wallets
Bitcoin.org just published an alert about Android wallet vulnerabilities.
We recently learned that a component of Android responsible for generating secure random numbers contains critical weaknesses, that render all Android wallets generated to date vulnerable to theft. Because the problem lies with Android itself, this problem will affect you if you have a wallet generated by any Android app. An incomplete list would be Bitcoin Wallet, blockchain.info wallet, BitcoinSpinner and Mycelium Wallet.
In order to re-secure existing wallets, key rotation is necessary. This involves generating a new address with a repaired random number generator and then sending all the money in your wallet back to yourself. If you use an Android wallet then we strongly recommended you upgrade to the latest version available in the Play Store as soon as one becomes available. Once your wallet is rotated, you will need to contact anyone who has stored addresses generated by your phone and give them a new one.
If you use Bitcoin Wallet by Andreas Schildbach, key rotation will occur automatically soon after you upgrade. The old addresses will be marked as insecure in your address book. You will need to make a fresh backup.
Bitcoin for Organisations – A Global Guide by UK-Based MetaLair
MetaLair is a startup based in the UK focused on Bitcoin, Litecoin and cryptocurrency. The company is developing a decentralised exchange mechanism able to facilitate secure exchanges between both cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.
In a effort to promote Bitcoin for organisations, MetaLair has published a leaflet that provides a quick primer of how organisations can adopt Bitcoin. It is embedded below and published on Reddit.
Federal Judge Rules Bitcoin is Money in Ponzi Scheme Case
Bitcoin is Money, Say Federal Judge
A few weeks ago, we covered the story of Trendon T. Shavers, a Texas man charged by the SEC with running a Bitcoin ponzi scheme. Now labeled the “Bernie Madoff of Bitcoin,” Mr. Shavers founded and operated Bitcoin Savings and Trust (BTCST), and over 700,000 BTC through this investment vehicle, an amount equivalent to nearly $5 million USD at the time of raising, and roughly $70 million today.
One component of Shavers’ attempted defense was to call into question whether Bitcoin is truly a form of money and therefore can be regulated by the SEC. The federal judge ruled with no uncertainty that Bitcoin is money.
It is clear that Bitcoin can be used as money. It can be used to purchase goods or services, and as Shavers stated, used to pay for individual living expenses. The only limitation of Bitcoin is that it is limited to those places that accept it as currency. However, it can also be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, Yen, and Yuan. Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money.
So much for that, Mr. Shavers.
Patrick Murck, general counsel for the Bitcoin Foundation, commented to Wired on the case. “This isn’t that shocking. If anyone wants to run a Ponzi scheme in Bitcoin, they can expect to get busted. If you run a Ponzi scheme anywhere, you’re gonna get busted — and you should. Bitcoin isn’t some sort of silver bullet that somehow ameliorates all the legal concern around your otherwise illegal activity.”
The full ruling by the court is embedded below.
CC image by Joe Gratz
