Wednesday, July 15, 2015
JUL 15 DIGEST: Vladimir Putin Addresses Digital Currency; North Carolina Senate Committee Advances Bitcoin Bill
DEA Agent Ordered to Forfeit $500,000 in Funds He Stole During Silk Road Case
First Instant Bitcoin-Based Remittance Service Launched in the Philippines
Study: the Blockchain Can Solve the Music Streaming Industry’s Biggest Problem
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Leaders in Decentralized Technology Hold DEC_TECH 2.0 Event Tonight in Toronto
Decentral and the Ethereum Meetup Group are holding their second Decentralized Tech event tonight at the MaRS Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The topics for the evening are the imminent release of Ethereum, the increase in people buying and selling bitcoin in Canada, and the variety of venture capital in the space.
“Over 300 people attended our first DEC_TECH event in March,” said Anthony Di lorio, president and founder of Decentral and host of DEC_TECH 2.0.
There will be three separate panels at tonight’s event. The first will be with Ethereum founders Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin and Di lorio talking about the technology. Ethereum is a platform that will allow applications to be built and run on a completely decentralized network.
The next panel will be a conversation with four speakers in the digital currency exchange industry. The speakers are Gerald Cotton of QuadrigaXC, Jaron Lukasiewicz of Coinsetter & CAVirtex, Virgile Rostand of Coinsquare and Jamie Robinson of QuickBT.
The final panel will be a conversation with Matthew Roszak, the founding partner of Tally Capital and the CEO of the recently launched Chicago Bitcoin Center, who will be talking about venture capital in decentralized technology.
The event opens at 6 p.m. with the first presentation starting at 6:30. There will be refreshments served after all presentations until 9 p.m.
Photo / MaRS Discovery District
Crowdfunded Documentary 'Bitcoin: The End of Money As We Know It' Premiers Online
New Device Steals Encrypted Bitcoin Keys in Mid-Air
Cape Town Incubator Launches Bitcoin Crowdfunding Platform
RLabs, a Cape Town-based social impact incubator has launched a bitcoin crowdfunding platform, mToto, to allow users to fund projects using bitcoin.
mToto, which translates to “child” in Swahili, is a bitcoin initiative between Uusi and RLabs which aims to help underserved education and health centers in under-resourced communities in South Africa and to develop tools for innovative challenges and products.
mToto will also convert bitcoin into cash for the companies and projects, and hopes to raise enough bitcoin to fund four companies/projects per month.
“We convert the Bitcoin to cash and resources and share the results each month with the broader community,” the mToto team explained.
The leader of the project and RLabs founder Marlon Parker told Disrupt Africa, an African news site, that the organization will help companies in early developmental stages.
“Our target is current bitcoin users who have an interest in using it for social good, Parker said. “In this instance we are focusing on those with an interest in the development of children.”
RLabs was founded in 2007 to create an innovative and friendly environment for startups and projects. Its early initiative, called Youth Cafes, has had more than 20,000 visits, hosting a BBC development studio in May.
RLabs is pursuing a bitcoin project because it believes that digital currencies could be the catalysts that will drive social change in Africa. The founder explained that people could greatly benefit from bitcoin’s low transaction fees and immediate accessibilities.
Varoufakis Speaks Out Against Greek Bailout Agreement Reached by EU Leaders
Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who resigned after the Greek referendum on July 5 in a surprising move interpreted as a conciliatory move toward Greece’s creditors, gave his first interview after his resignation, and before the announcement of the deal between Greece and European Union (EU) leaders. Speaking to The New Statesman, Varoufakis expressed his disappointment with “the complete lack of any democratic scruples, on behalf of the supposed defenders of Europe’s democracy.” (Read the full transcript of Varoufakis interview.)
Of course, Varoufakis is referring to the EU leaders. In the interview, he gives a long account of the months of negotiations since he became Greece’s finance minister and internal disagreements in the Greek government. He also speaks up in very blunt terms, saying the Eurogroup is “completely and utterly” controlled by Germany, Greece was “set up,” and last week’s referendum was wasted.
“[By] the time the liquidity almost ran out completely, and we were in default, or quasi-default, to the IMF, they introduced their proposals, which were absolutely impossible … totally non-viable and toxic,” said Varoufakis. “So they delayed and then came up with the kind of proposal you present to another side when you don’t want an agreement.”
Varoufakis, who accused Athens’ creditors of “terrorism” the day before the referendum, is especially critical of the Eurogroup, an informal body where the ministers of the Eurozone discuss matters relating to their shared responsibilities on the euro.
The Eurogroup is, in Varoufakis’ words, “a non-existent group that has the greatest power to determine the lives of Europeans. It’s not answerable to anyone, given it doesn’t exist in law; no minutes are kept; and it’s confidential. So no citizen ever knows what is said within. … These are decisions of almost life and death, and no member has to answer to anybody.”
Varoufakis added that the Eurogroup is totally controlled by the finance minister of Germany.
The terms of the agreement that will, for the time being, keep Greece in the Eurozone aren’t significantly better than the proposals rejected by the Greek citizens on July 5. The referendum could then be seen as a farce staged to appease the citizens, which is likely to cause Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras considerable opposition at home, from politicians – even within his own party Syriza – and citizens angered at his capitulation to humiliating terms. The opposition could be strong enough to precipitate new elections.
The New Statesman article notes that the Eurozone can dictate terms to Greece because it is persuaded that its banks are now protected if Greek banks default, and, therefore, are no longer afraid of a Grexit. But that ignores another aspect of the crisis, more difficult to quantify: If the citizens in Greece and other countries become convinced that the EU is their enemy, they will vote en-masse for anti-EU parties, including parties of very questionable reputation, which would have catastrophic consequence for the Union. This scenario doesn’t even need a formal Grexit to materialize.
Varoufakis said that he never believed Greece should go straight to a new currency. Rather, his plan was that, in case of unsuccessful negotiations, Greece should issue its own Euro-denominated IOUs as a parallel currency-like means of exchange for the citizens.
That could still happen unofficially, by initiative of Greek banks, businesses or grassroots groups, which could establish a parallel economy with scrip or Local Exchange Trade Systems (LETS) based on bitcoin, with or without the backing of the government and the status of legal tender.
How Greece Was Lost: ‘We Were Set Up’ – Yanis Varoufakis
Award-Winning Bitcoin Documentary Featuring Roger Ver and Antonopoulos Released Today
The highly anticipated bitcoin documentary “Bitcoin: The End of Money As We Know It” has been released today, announced Torsten Hoffman, the film’s writer and producer.
It highlights the most interesting use cases of bitcoin and the blockchain technology by avoiding the complex technical aspects of secondary applications. The documentary begins by explaining the problems of current financial systems, including hyperinflation and national debt crisis, to emphasize bitcoin’s benefits and how bitcoin could ultimately be a solution to most of the current financial problems.
The documentary was produced and distributed by an award-winning team of professional and experienced television producers. Their films were licensed by international broadcasters and media companies including Neflix, CCTV, Samsung Electronics, Virgin Media, LG Electronics, Sky Deutschland, Orange and minor broadcasters in 20 countries.
The trailer is available on Vimeo. The team has included interviews with prominent bitcoin entrepreneurs, investors and authors, including Roger Ver and Andreas M. Antonopolous.
“The existing banking systems extract enormous value from society and is parasitic in nature,” Antonopolous explains.
The documentary won several international awards, including 2015 Best International Documentary award at Anthem Film Festival (Freedom Fest), 2015 Best Libertarian Theme Film at Anthem Film Festival (Freedom Fest) and 2015 Special Jury Prize at Amsterdam Film Festival.
Ultimately, the documentary states, “There are some who want to kill it. Get rid of it. Burn your dollars, your euros, your yen and transform every penny you have into 1’s and 0’s – a digital currency, entrusted by the web and computers spread across the planet, magic Internet money, its called cryptocurrency bitcoin.”
Xapo Executives’ Attempt to Dismiss Lifelock Lawsuit Overruled
Earlier in June, billion-dollar security company LifeLock filed a lawsuit against Xapo that might jeopardize the ownership of Xapo’s bitcoin wallet technology. This week, Xapo executives, including founder Wences Casares, lost their bid to have the breach-of-contract lawsuit thrown out.
California Superior Court Judge Peter Kirwan rejected the demurrer submitted by Xapo executives regarding the breach-of-contract suit for lacking sufficient facts. However, Kirwan also noted that the agreement signed between Lemon Inc. and LifeLock does not enforce ownership of bitcoin-related technology and products.
In the filing, LifeLock accused Xapo executives of not revealing their bitcoin wallet project and that it was developed in LifeLock’s offices using with their resources. But Xapo argued that LifeLock was well aware of the project and that LifeLock did not want Lemon’s bitcoin-related technologies assets.
Fortune reported that Casares “subsequently secured letters from a senior LifeLock executive to that effect.” Bitcoin Magazine obtained a copy of this letter that appears to be signed by LifeLock president Hillary Schneider.
Xapo executives began “working” for LifeLock when the security company acquired a digital wallet platform called Lemon for around $42.6 million USD in 2013.
The judge told Casares that he must respond to the complaint by July 24. A Lifelock spokesman said, “We are pleased with the ruling, but can’t comment further on pending litigation.”
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