The Silk Road black market in drugs prevented violence and was a “transformative” criminal innovation October 22, 2014 The deep web black marketplace Silk Road, which was shut down last year, prevented violence associated with the illegal drug trade and represented a breakthrough in criminal innovation. So concludes a new study by researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of Montreal. Dubbed the "eBay" of drugs, the site was not, as [...]
Bitcoin bounces back above $1,000 after this new endorsement January 6, 2014 Bitcoin has bounced back across the $1,000 (£610) mark in the wake of the announcement that social game company Zynga would accept the virtual currency for some of its services. Players of games such as FarmVille 2 and CastleVille will now be able to use Bitpay, a Bitcoin payment provider to make in-game purchases. Zynga [...]
iBrute force: Is this how Apple iPhone hackers leaked nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton? September 4, 2014 Yesterday a thread appeared on notoriously NSFW forum site 4chan, promising to post nude photos of actresses Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Ariana Grande in return for Bitcoin donations. Publicists for Lawrence and Upton confirmed the pictures were real (although Grande’s insisted they were “completely fake”). But how did the hacker get access to their [...]
Bitcoin under attack as Norway introduces new tax December 16, 2013 Bitcoin users have been dealt a blow as Norwegian authorities have announced that they will be placing a tax on the virtual currency. Hans Christian Holte, director at the Norwegian tax administration said in an interview: Bitcoin don’t fall under the usual definition of money or currency. We’ve done some assessments on what’s the right [...]
Osborne vows to make London world’s centre for finance tech August 5, 2014 Britain will offer prizes for finance technology innovators in a new bid to become the world’s leading centre for the sector, chancellor George Osborne will say today. The new drive will see UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) market the capital harder around the globe to attract more firms. And the Treasury, Bank of England and law [...]
Bitcoin soars above $1,000 November 27, 2013 BITCOIN broke fresh records last night when the price of the digital currency reached $1,073 (£659.60) on popular online exchange Mt.Gox, as market momentum lifted it to a new high. Last week a US Senate committee described Bitcoin – the digital currency that can be traded anonymously and freely worldwide – as a legitimate financial [...]
Bitcoin breaches $600 barrier November 18, 2013 Crypto currency Bitcoin has breached the $600 barrier this morning, having passed $500 yesterday. In April the digital store of value crashed from $220 – then thought spectacularly high – to fall below $100. While many thought that this may herald the end for the currency, its value has continued to rise since then (although [...]
Bitcoin under attack as Norway introduces new tax December 13, 2013 Bitcoin users have been dealt a blow as Norwegian authorities have announced that they will be placing a tax on the virtual currency. Hans Christian Holte, director at the Norwegian tax administration said in an interview: Bitcoin don’t fall under the usual definition of money or currency. We’ve done some assessments on what’s the right [...]
Bitcoin fund raises $65m in two months December 11, 2013 A FUND established to offer investors exposure to Bitcoin is holding around $65m (£39.7m) in the digital currency after two months in operation, its creator, SecondMarket chief executive officer Barry Silbert, said yesterday. Silbert said the fund, named the Bitcoin Investment Trust (BIT), has 90 investors, among them hedge fund traders and private family investment [...]
Techcrunch Disrupt in London: City’s rising tech talent is the star of the show October 20, 2014 Some 1,500 investors, entrepreneurs and startups will go head to head at Old Billingsgate Market today and tomorrow as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest annual tech conferences lands in London for the first time. Techcrunch Disrupt promises to focus the world’s tech investment community on the capital’s top startups over the next two [...]