Tag: bitcoin

Asia markets mixed after US records, Bitcoin breaks $10,000

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday following fresh records on Wall Street as Donald Trump’s tax-cut plans moved a step closer, while the pound extended gains on reports of a breakthrough in Brexit talks. Traders brushed off early worries caused by another North Korean missile test, while Bitcoin continued its surge to break the $10,000 mark for the first time. New York traders cheered a forecast-beating US consumer confidence survey […]

Bitcoin breaks $10,000 barrier for first time: Bloomberg

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Bitcoin broke above the $10,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday as the virtual currency continued a stratospheric rise that has seen it increase more than tenfold this year. The cryptocurrency surged to a high of $10,059 in early Asian hours, according to Bloomberg News, though the recent surge in the volatile unit has fuelled fears of a bubble. Launched in 2009 as a bit of encrypted software written by someone […]

ICOs: the lawless land of cryptocurrency fundraising

  By Daphne Rousseau Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — From raising $30 million in 30 seconds to being endorsed by Paris Hilton or vanishing into thin air: anything is possible in the risky new world of cryptocurrency fundraising, but regulators are lurking. Bypassing oversight of any kind, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have sprung from nowhere to become a hugely popular way for start-ups to raise funds online, offering self-created digital “tokens” or coins […]

US charges Iranian over ‘Game of Thrones’ HBO hack

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday charged an Iranian computer whiz with hacking into HBO, stealing scripts and plot summaries for “Game of Thrones,” and trying to extort $6 million in Bitcoin out of the network. US prosecutors in New York unveiled a seven-count indictment against Behzad Mesri, whom they identified as an Iran-based hacker who also goes by the name Skote Vahshat. Mesri is still at large, a spokesman […]

Bitcoin, the virtual currency

https://youtu.be/pJoyPhiOz50 Bitcoin is not generally recognized as a proper currency — lacking a home country, central bank or treasury — although its real world use is constantly increasing. Its community of users control and regulate it via the block chain, a shared public ledger on which the entire Bitcoin network relies. FRED. GARET, KATHERINE LEVY SPENCER / AFP VIDEOGRAPHICS / AFP

Dutch family sells everything to bet on bitcoins

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — A Dutch family has sold virtually all they own, including a business, their home, two cars and a motorbike and invested the takings in bitcoin just as the virtual currency is soaring to new heights. “We are putting everything into bitcoin, we’ve sold everything to invest in this currency,” Didi Taihuttu told AFP. The 39-year-old is currently living in a camping ground with his family, aiming “to put as much […]

Top Chinese bitcoin exchange shuts down

BEIJING, China (AFP) — One of the biggest bitcoin exchanges in China and the world announced Thursday that it would stop all trading following new Chinese government regulations clamping down on crypto-currencies. The international value of bitcoin has plunged in recent days amid speculation that the Chinese authorities will shut down the trading platforms following last week’s ban on initial coin offerings. BTCC — China’s second bitcoin platform in terms of volume and the world’s […]

Bitcoin nears record high as it becomes ‘safe haven’ asset

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Bitcoin neared record highs Thursday with the surging digital currency tipped to become a new safe haven asset as the world grapples with growing economic uncertainty. The unit broke the $1,100 barrier on the Bitcoin Price Index, an average of major exchanges, to continue a dizzying rise that made it the best performing currency of 2016. It has fluctuated wildly since it was created in 2009 and lost three quarters […]

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright says he created Bitcoin

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) by Katherine Haddon Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright on Monday identified himself as the creator of Bitcoin, following years of speculation about who invented the pioneering digital currency. Wright was identified by three media outlets — the BBC, The Economist and GQ magazine — and posted a blog on the subject on his website. However, in a defiant interview with the BBC, he insisted that he would have preferred his identity to remain secret […]

Japan says not fully apprised of bitcoin situation

TOKYO Thu Mar 6, 2014 8:25pm EST (Reuters) – Japan’s government said it was not yet fully apprised of the situation around bitcoins, showing it was still struggling to determine its approach to the virtual currency a week after the collapse of Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Friday that the government would act if needed on bitcoin issues. The government, in response to questions from a […]

Man called Bitcoin’s father denies ties, leads LA car chase

By Aron Ranen and Brandon Lowrey TEMPLE CITY, California Thu Mar 6, 2014 7:08pm EST (Reuters) – A Japanese American man thought to be the reclusive multi-millionaire father of Bitcoin emerged from a modest Southern California home and denied involvement with the digital currency before leading reporters on a freeway car chase to the local headquarters of the Associated Press. Satoshi Nakamoto, a name known to legions of bitcoin traders, practitioners and boosters around the […]

Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox goes dark in blow to virtual currency

By Ruairidh Villar, Sophie Knight and Brett Wolf TOKYO/ST LOUIS Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:47pm EST (Reuters) – Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest bitcoin exchange, abruptly stopped trading on Tuesday and its chief executive said the business was at “a turning point,” sparking concerns about the future of the unregulated virtual currency. Several other digital currency exchanges and prominent early-stage investors in bitcoin responded with forceful statements in an attempt to reassure investors of […]