About 50,000 Bitpoint Japan customers had cryptocurrency stolen
Bitpoint Japan’s president apologized and vowed to fully return the stolen assets in virtual currencies after the company resumes services that were suspended following the hacking.
Whistleblower or traitor, leaker or public hero? National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off U.S. government surveillance methods five years ago, but intelligence chiefs complain that revelations from the trove of classified documents he disclosed are still trickling out. That includes recent reporting ...
Energy riches fuel bitcoin craze for speculation-shy Iceland
Iceland is expected to use more energy "mining" bitcoins and other virtual currencies this year than it uses to power its homes. With massive amounts of electricity needed to run the computers that create bitcoins, large virtual currency companies have established a base in the ...
Bitcoin exchange operator arrested amid new questions about Mt. Gox theft
Ever since Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February 2014, investigators have been puzzled by the disappearance of virtual currency worth hundreds of millions of dollars from its digital vaults. Mt. Gox, which claimed it once hosted around 80 percent of bitcoin ...
Australia to sell bitcoins, worth about $13 million, confiscated as proceeds of crime
Bitcoins worth the equivalent of about $13 million will be auctioned in Sydney in June after Australian police confiscated the digital currency as proceeds of crime, an official said Tuesday. Ernst & Young will be running the process, which is only the second such bitcoin ...
Japan OKs recognizing virtual currencies as similar to real money
The Cabinet on Friday approved a set of bills to help banking groups expand their information technology businesses and to recognize virtual currencies as having a function similar to real money. Under the revised banking bills, bank-holding companies will be able to acquire IT-related ventures. ...
Prosecutors file charges against ex-CEO of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange
Prosecutors have filed charges against Mark Karpeles, the former head of defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, accusing him of stealing ¥321 million ($2.7 million) of clients' money. The French-born Karpeles, 30, was arrested last month in connection with the disappearance of hundreds of millions of ...
Ex-U.S. Secret Service agent admits $800,000 bitcoin theft during Silk Road drug probe
A former U.S. Secret Service agent pleaded guilty on Monday to diverting to his personal account over $800,000 worth of bitcoins during an investigation into online drug marketplace Silk Road. Shaun Bridges, 33, appeared in federal court in San Francisco and admitted to money laundering ...
Along with preventing the abuse of the virtual currency transactions for money laundering and criminal purposes, new cybermoney regulations should aim to protect the interests of its users.
Bitcoins lost in Mt. Gox debacle 'not subject to ownership' claims: Tokyo court
The Tokyo District Court on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by a man seeking repayment for bitcoins he kept in an account at the bankrupt exchange Mt. Gox Co., with the ruling saying the virtual currency is "not subject to ownership" claims. Last June, the Kyoto ...
Chinese bitcoin firm joins Atlas ATS in bid for Mt. Gox assets
BitOcean, a Chinese bitcoin startup, joined with New York-based exchange platform Atlas ATS Inc. to bid for the assets of Mt. Gox, the exchange platform that filed for bankruptcy in Japan earlier this year. BitOcean and Atlas will invest $1 million worth of bitcoins to ...
The government is vowing to monitor illegal transactions of bitcoins, but will put off regulating trade of the online digital currency, according to government and ruling party officials. Amid fears that criminal organizations have used bitcoins in money laundering and drug deals, the Ministry of ...
