The teenage co-founder of an Arabic language cryptocurrency exchange and writer at Coin Brief has been arrested over a suspected link to assisting a man travelling to fight alongside ISIS. Ross Ulbricht’s seized coins will be up for auction today and other top stories for March 5.
Teen co-founder of BitCoin El Arab exchange arrested for alleged ISIS link
A teenager from Northern Virginia has been detained on suspicion of assisting a man traveling to Syria to fight for ISIS. The co-founder of the Arabic language, BitCoin El Arab exchange, as well as a writer at Coin Brief, who cannot be named due to his age, is still a public school student and is being charged as a juvenile.
“On Friday, FBI agents raided the Woodbridge townhouse where the teen lives with his family, leading the boy outside with his hands cuffed behind his back, neighbors said. The boy, a student at Prince William County’s Osbourn Park High School, is charged only as a juvenile, but federal prosecutors are navigating the intensive legal process to move the case into adult court, an official said.”
US Marshals auction of Silk Road bitcoins begin today 0800 – 1400 EST
The US Marshal Service will auction off Ross Ulbricht’s BTC stash today following the seizure of the coins in connection with his conviction. Bidders have to be pre-approved by the service, after which they will get a chance to bid on the 50,000 discounted bitcoins.
“This sealed bid auction is for 50,000 bitcoins separated into two series: Series A (10 blocks of 2,000 bitcoins), and Series B (10 blocks of 3,000 bitcoins). You will not have the opportunity to view other bids. You will not have the opportunity to change your bid once submitted.”
BitCenter NYC launches its own tech incubator program
Announcing it will be receiving applications from cryptocurrency start-ups, the NYC Bitcoin Center is turning its focus on fostering cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. Citing the benefits of the Center's proximity to Wall Street itself, co-founder Nick Spanos hopes to help the next generation of start-ups.
“While the launch has brought new attention to New York's first brick-and-mortar bitcoin resource center, co-founder Nick Spanos explained that the announcement simply adds formal branding to the work already being done by his team at 40 Broad Street.”
Andreas Antonopoulos suggests the blockchain will always outpace banks
Speaking at the O'Reilly Radar Summit on “Bitcoin and the Blockchain,” Bitcoin ‘s go-to expert, Andreas Antonopoulos, argues that international banks cannot innovate and iterate their centralized networks fast enough to keep up with the development pace of Bitcoin.
Mercury, the trustless Bitcoin exchange, launches alpha release
The service, which is launching in Alpha today, is taking aim at the potted security history of centralized exchanges. Mercury is designed to operate as a trustless, decentralized service, connecting users directly to trade through the blockchain. The start-up only centralizes the user matching element, leaving the keys and funds with the traders.
“When making trades, your wallet will use the Mercury Order Book service to find bid or ask offers opened by other traders. This service is centralized, but it is never involved in the actual transfer of funds so it doesn't require any trust.”
Wrte.io wants to charge people for sending you emails
Creating a system that screens emails being sent to you through a public wrte.io address, the start-up hopes that would-be emailers (and spammers) will be happy to pay the company to forward their email to your own personal address. With the bitcoin-enabled payments heading to the recipient, Wrte.io hopes to reduce the amount of cold emails users receive.
“1. A person sends an email to your address at wrte.io 2. He gets reply with an invoice 3. Once payments is verified we forward his message to your personal email 4. All bitcoins are stored in your acount at wrte.io. You can transfer them any time to your bitcoin wallet.”
Former Netscape director launches Bitcoin remittances app
Hoping to take a slice of the multi-billion dollar remittances industry, former Netscape director, Bill Barhydat, has launched a P2P Bitcoin app called Abra. Relying on a network of third party in-person “tellers”, the app aims to make withdrawing money easier for those without bank accounts.
“Abra Tellers represent a global, shared network of consumers helping each other easily deposit and withdraw cash from the Abra app anywhere in the world. Founded in 2014 by Bill Barhydt, serial entrepreneur and global mobile-banking visionary, our team is based in Silicon Valley and committed to forever changing how the world moves money.”
Facebook debate prompts Europe's largest military surplus dealer to accept BTC
Having taken to Facebook to explain his reasons for not accepting bitcoin, Valterri Lindholm the founder of Varusteleka received strong arguments from his users on why he should. Now, the largest military surplus retailer in Europe accepts Bitcoin payments, although Lindholm remains skeptical about the currency’s longevity.
“It's been on for 5 days and 3% of our web payments have been made in bitcoin. I'm inclined to believe that the percentage will drop as the dust settles, and that for a long time practically all of those who pay with bitcoin would be able to pay with Euros too.”
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