Newsletter #70

Latest News

Criminal Charges Against Agents Reveal Staggering Corruption in the Silk Road Investigation

The Silk Road case was compromised again and again as Force and Bridges took every opportunity to embezzle and steal money. With so much bitcoin on their hands, the two had to coax bitcoin and payments companies to help convert their ill-gotten gains. When companies resisted, investigations were launched, subpoenas were issued, and civil forfeitures were sought in retaliation.

Overstock Invests In PeerNova; $19 million Raised For Blockchain-Based Applications

To date, San Jose based PeerNova has raised $19 million in equity and debt financing. PeerNova intends to use the funds to accelerate the development of two core enterprise products focused on data security and financial applications and to build product and business development teams.

UBS to Open Blockchain Research Lab in London

Swiss banking giant UBS is to open a technology lab in London to explore how blockchain technology - the underlying technology behind bitcoin - can be used in financial services.

Market

Benchmarking $666M of Venture Capital Investments In the Crypto-currency Space

The $665 Million Evolution in a Space Nobody Respected a Year Ago - Already Outpacing the Internet Circa 1994

Bitcoin as a Smart Contract Platform

Richard Brown explains how the way bitcoins are spent using two programs (“scriptSig” and "scriptPubKey”) makes Bitcoin the protocol a sophisticated smart contract platform that can be improved over time.

Ecosystem

ProTip - Peer to Peer Tipping for the Web

A new tool launched their crowdfund for a browser plugin that will allow for seamless online tipping for websites with Bitcoin addresses based on time spent on the website. Helps fund the creators of content which you consume.

Factom Raises $140k in First Day of 'Software Sale'

Factom has raised 579 BTC, or roughly $140,000, through the first day of its software sale.

NEM Launches, Targets Old Economy with Proof-of-Importance

Cryptocurrency NEM (New Economy Movement) has officially been launched. CoinTelegraph had the chance to site down and discuss the ambitious project with one of the lead developers, Makoto.

NeuCoin Whitepaper Reignites Proof-of-Work vs. Proof-of-Stake Debate

A little more than a week after release of NeuCoin's technical whitepaper, an intense debate been sparked between the proponents of the two main crypto technologies, proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS).

Legal

Silk Road corruption case shows how law enforcement uses Bitcoin

One of the most interesting aspects of this revelation is how federal investigators have been able to use Bitcoin’s public ledger to easily trace bitcoins from Silk Road straight to the charged agents.

$1 Million Legal Fight Ensnares Ripple, Bitstamp and Jed McCaleb

Bitstamp has initiated legal action over more than 1 million dollars in disputed funds related to the sale of nearly 100M XRP last month.

Bitcoin Advocates Back Petition for BitLicense Safe Harbor Provision

More than 70 digital currency industry businesses and execs are backing a petition meant to ease onerous components of New York's BitLicense proposal.

Learn

Replace by fee

Mike Hearn gave a counter-argument to Peter Todd's proposal of introducing "Replace by fee" to fix perceived problems with unconfirmed transactions and make double spending harder.