What the other papers say this morning – 3 October 2013 October 2, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES FBI raid $1bn Silk Road black market US authorities have seized more than $3m worth of Bitcoins after closing down Silk Road, the online marketplace that allegedly allowed more than a billion dollars of illegal drugs and illicit services to be bought using the virtual currency. As part of the raid, the Federal [...]
Bitcoins seized as FBI shuts down illegal drug marketplace in US October 2, 2013 US LAW enforcement authorities have shut down Silk Road, the web marketplace for illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine as well as criminal activities including murder for hire, and arrested its alleged owner, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said yesterday. The FBI arrested Silk Road owner Ross William Ulbricht, 29, known as Dread Pirate [...]
Infamous online marketplace Silk Road seized by FBI and arrest of alleged owner Ulbricht October 2, 2013 The darknet site Silk Road has been taken down by law enforcement. The site gained notoreity as a portal through which to purchase illegal goods, using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. FBI estimates suggest that the site has generated revenues totalling over 9.5m Bitcoins, and collected commissions from sales totalling over 600,000 Bitcoins. That equates to around [...]
Winklevoss twins can see Bitcoin becoming a country’s currency September 17, 2013 CAMERON and Tyler Winklevoss, currently making headlines with plans to launch a Bitcoin fund, claimed yesterday that they could see the digital currency becoming a country’s official money. “The next step for Bitcoin is potentially becoming the currency of a country,” Tyler Winklevoss said. The twin brothers, famous for their history with Facebook, were speaking [...]
Disruptive technology isn’t a miracle: We can harness its future power now September 15, 2013 THE ASTONISHING rise of firms like Twitter (founded just seven years ago, yet now expected to float for $10bn), is often seen as a grand romantic narrative – an exciting story, difficult to predict. But transformation, disruption, and change should be easier to forecast. The only weapon we need is the deceptively simple power of [...]
City watchdog is considering regulating Bitcoin currency September 4, 2013 THE FINANCIAL Conduct Authority is actively considering regulating the virtual currency Bitcoin, it was claimed yesterday. Tom Robinson, co-founder of Bitcoin currency exchange Bitprice, told City A.M. that the regulator – which has until now watched the fast-growing currency from the sidelines – has taken a more active interest in recent weeks. “We know they’re looking at Bitcoin [...]
Omnishambles and bitcoin make it into Oxford Dictionaries online August 27, 2013 WORDSMITHS in the Square Mile will be pleased today, as Oxford University Press (OUP) has announced the latest additions to its online dictionaries. The Capitalist enjoys seeing City lingo making it into everyday lexicon – and the new round of entries includes plenty of financial vernacular. OUP’s 2012 Word of the Year omnishambles – “a situation that [...]
Germany recognises Bitcoin as a taxable currency August 19, 2013 Germany has become the first country to take an official stance on the use of online currency Bitcoin, recognising it as legitimate for legal and tax purposes. Berlin acknowledged Bitcoin as a “currency unit” and “private money”, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the online edition of the "New Osnabrück newspaper", citing a [...]
Bloomberg confirms it is internally testing bitcoin ticker August 15, 2013 Bloomberg staff are testing a bitcoin terminal internally, a spokesperson for the service has said. Confirming speculation from various bloggers and enthusiasts, spokesperson Vera Newhouse told CoinDesk: Bloomberg is testing Bitcoin data, but this is only accessible to internal users and not Bloomberg Professional service subscribers. We often prototype new functions and dashboards; some that [...]
Bitcoin probed by US Senate August 14, 2013 BITCOIN and other fast-growing online currencies are to be investigated by the US Senate amid money laundering concerns, it was announced yesterday. Bitcoin is not controlled by any government and is difficult to trace, leading a top Senate committee to raise concerns that it leaves “little or no trail for regulators or enforcement agencies”. While the virtual [...]