Government-Funded Drug Trafficking Makes USD the World’s Dirtiest Currency

Pablo Escobar. Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán. Rick Ross. Household names, each and every one of them; drug lords collectively responsible for punting billions of dollars’ worth of narcotics. Yet their crimes pale in comparison to those their prosecutors have been perpetrating for years. After decades of fueling proxy wars and trafficking, the US government has … Read more

Cryptocurrency Users Won’t Be Paying Their Bail With Altcoins Anytime Soon

Cryptocurrencies have many use cases. Unfortunately for Martin Marsich, paying bail is not one of them. The FBI rejected his attempt to post bail with $750,000 worth of various altcoins, primarily because of the market volatility and price crash such a sell-off could trigger. FBI Rejects Altcoin-Bail Scheme It is evident criminals tend to have … Read more

The Daily: Husbands Blackmailed for Bitcoin, Blockchain This and That

Scammers are threatening to reveal cheating husbands to their wives and asking for bitcoin ransom – check the details in this edition of The Daily. A porn streaming website now rewards its users with tokens, and hair sprays are sold for BTC and BCH. Also, find out what Brits think about blockchain and learn about … Read more

US Judge Orders Alleged Hacker to Pay Bail in Cryptocurrency

A US federal judge has ordered an alleged hacker to pay the equivalent of $750,000 in cryptocurrency for bail. The man was charged with hacking video game company Electronic Arts (EA), obtaining in-game currency used to buy and sell in-game items, and selling access to online games though black-market websites. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance … Read more

Illegal Activity No Longer Dominant Use of Bitcoin: DEA Agent

A special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reportedly revealed that the use of bitcoin in illegal activities has shrunk to about 10 percent from 90 percent previously. This finding contradicts the popular perception of the cryptocurrency’s primary use. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space New Data From DEA … Read more

The Daily: Exchange Operator Pleads Guilty, Scammer Fined Over $1.9 Million

In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we cover a number of stories related to crime from around the cryptosphere: an exchange operator pleads guilty to securities fraud, a scammer is fined over $1.9 million for bitcoin and binary options fraud, police get a crypto course and a new type of ransomware attack is discovered. … Read more

#FreeRoss Activities Are Gaining Steam

The trial and conviction of Ross Ulbricht for his administration of the Silk Road darknet market represented a landmark event in cryptocurrency. For many, the investigation and sentencing were a contradiction to the commonly held belief that cryptocurrency and activities involving cryptocurrency could not be regulated by the government. For others, the injustices and illegalities … Read more

FBI Currently Investigating 130 Crypto-Related Cases

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly revealed that it is working on 130 cryptocurrency-related investigations, citing an increase in illegal activity facilitated by crypto payments. These cases “encompass crimes such as human trafficking, illicit drug sales, kidnapping and ransomware attacks.” Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space FBI’s 130 Crypto-Related Cases The … Read more

Satoshi Nakamoto Known to CIA? FBI? Created by NSA? Search Intensifies

The “request has been rejected,” came response from the CIA, “with the agency stating that it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of the requested documents.” A tech writer petitioned ‘the agency’ to see what it had on the subject of Satoshi Nakamoto, the name credited with founding Bitcoin, the world’s first decentralized cryptocurrency. … Read more