JUL 1 DIGEST: Bitstamp Releases Incident Report; BitGo Launches Certificate to Prove Solvency

Bitstamp released its incident report regarding the hacking of their hot wallet of last January, BitGo announced a new stamp of approval in BTC transactions that aims to help consumers, and more top stories for July 1.

Bitstamp Releases Incident Report

One of the leading bitcoin exchanges, Bitstamp, has released its incident report regarding the hacking of their hot wallet of last January. Bitstamp lost around 19,000 bitcoins, worth some US$5 million at the time. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Bitstamp has indicated that the hack was carried out by sophisticated and determined attackers: 

“Based on our investigation, we believe that this was a highly targeted attack undertaken by a determined attacker, who showed a very degree [sic] of operational security and technical sophistication.”

Furthermore, the report suggests that the attacker might soon be traced by authorities:

“Finally, Bitstamp is working closely with the secret service, FBI andUKcybercrime investigators to apprehend and prosecute the hacker, and we are very close to doing so.”

BitGo Launches Certificate to Prove Solvency for Bitcoin Companies

Bitcoin API-provider BitGo has announced a new stamp of approval in Bitcoin transactions that aims to help consumers put more trust in Bitcoin companies. This “proof of reserve” product, called Verified by BitGo, intends to show users of Bitcoin companies that the firm they are dealing with has adequate funds.

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said:

“It’s a way we can help our customers show their end users that they’re operating in a good state, and make sure everyone can trust everybody. It’s kind of like an online audit that everyone has access to in a safe way all the time.”

‘300% Increase in Bitcoin Buys’ Across EU asGreeceFallsinto Arrears

Greecehas become the first developed country to fall into arrears with the IMF as it missed its 1.6 billion euro payment due Tuesday night. AsGreecehas suddenly turned into a fully-fledged crisis, bitcoin companies have started reporting that there has been a huge spike in buying and interest throughout the Euro zone. While new users might not be coming fromGreecedirectly, it certainly doesn't seem like a coincidence that these buys have come as the Greek situation deteriorates.

Coinwallet Runs another Stress Test

Coinwallet, the UK-based mining service that last week attempted to run its own stress test on the Bitcoin network, is said to be making another attempt, after that first event failed. The goal is to push Bitcoin’s transaction processing abilities to its limits, clog up the system, and prove a point in what has become a fierce debate over how change on the block size limit should be implemented.

CoinWallet said:

“We feel that our tests might prove to be the catalyst that propels the core [developers] and miners to implement the required hard fork that is desperately needed.”

Coinkite Announces TOR-enabled ‘Bitcoin Pay Button’

Coinkite announced a new kind of "Bitcoin Payment Button" that lets anyone accept bitcoin as payment for products or services. The first of its kind Pay Button is a plain HTML, embeddable payment processing option that shows prices in bitcoin and an optional local currency. Coinkite is also the first to allow TOR users to make bitcoin payments while JavaScript and cookies are disabled without collecting any personal information from the buyer.

On their website, Coinkite states:

“Most payment systems are heavy-handed when it comes to identity and Coinkite has always allowed its users complete anonymity and the all responsibility that goes with that freedom.”

Blythe Masters Joins Digital Currency Advocacy Group as Advisor

The Chamber of Digital Commerce (CDC), a digital currency advocacy group, has appointed former Wall Street executive Blythe Masters to its board of advisors. Masters, who joined Digital Asset Holdings as CEO in March, spoke about her new advisory role.

She said:

“I am pleased to bring my experience in financial services to work with the chamber on achieving its goals of advocating policies that promote public trust and confidence in financial infrastructure and fostering the deployment of new technologies to reduce risk and settlement latency.”

Bitcoin EmbassyAmsterdamLaunches Notary Time Stamping Service

The Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam has launched a blockchain based notary service. Users can hash a document onto the Bitcoin blockchain, hence proving they owned said document on that specific date, and proving that it has not been altered since.

On its website, the Bitcoin Embassy Amsterdam writes:

“The Bitcoin blockchain notary service is the cheap, fast and easy way to time-stamp your documents on the Bitcoin blockchain! We combined the reliability of a notary with the superhero powers, security, trust and low fees of the Bitcoin blockchain!”

RomanianMobilePayments Provider Backs Offline Bitcoin Transactions Experiment

Romanian mobile payments provider Netopia mobilPay is backing a system that allows micro-SD cards in mobile phones to generate, store, transmit and delete bitcoin private keys. In effect, OffCoin would then be capable of moving digital currency between mobile phones without requiring users to be connected to the Internet or needing to pay the cost of using the bitcoin blockchain.

Netopia mobilPay CEO Antonio Eram said:

“Decentralized bitcoin for offline usage is a reality with our solution. As I have presented, there is only positive impact on the public ledger. We've just created a trusted offline, off-blockchain infrastructure.”