Bitcoin Guru

Seoul is set to launch its blockchain-powered petition system on March 1. The system will enable the residents of the city to air their views and share them with the local government. It will replace the existing system which has been marred by claims of fake identities and vote manipulation. Known as Democracy Seoul, the new system will give the residents of South Korea's capital the opportunity to turn the government's attention to issues that affect them. A resident will be able to propose any issue on the platform and if it gets at least 1,000 votes from other residents, the city's Mayor Park Won-soon will have to address it. This system will be similar to an existing national system that allows South Koreans to air their issues with the government. Once an issue receives 200,000 votes, the national government has to address it. The national petition system, as with any other online voting system globally, has been marred by accusations of vote manipulation and fake ide...

Finland has a problem many people wish they had. Finnish authorities are sitting on millions of dollars' worth of cryptocurrency and they don't know what to do with it. The currency was seized from criminals years ago, and the government is debating over the best way to liquidate the proceeds. So far, it can't figure out the best way to do it. According to local media, the Finnish Customs Service has 1,666 BTC that it confiscated from drug dealers several years ago. It doesn't specify when the seizure(s) may have occurred, but says that the confiscated amount was worth around $760,000 at the time. Today, that amount would be worth around $15 million. While other countries find ways to liquidate seized crypto, the Customs Service isn't sure it wants to, but it's logic for hesitating leaves a lot to be desired. According to the government agency, liquidating the assets would put them back onto the crypto market, where they could once again find their way into the ...

Crypto mining firm Canaan Creative has announced it has teamed up with blockchain firm Northern Data in a wide ranging strategic partnership. According to the announcement, Canaan will work alongside Northern Data to pool resources and expertise towards developing on a number of technological and operational fronts. The cooperation will include work on artificial intelligence, blockchain development and data center optimization at scale. NG Zhang, CEO at Canaan Creative, said the partnership would help the firm expand into new markets, as well as fostering technological advancement: "Our R&D team is collaborating with Northern Data. Both sides have achieved positive results. In addition, Northern Data will provide computational resources support for our overseas R&D in the U.S. Canaan looks forward to further cooperation in product development, AI, and high-performance computing." Canaan Creative is the second biggest manufacturer of crypto mining equipment in the wor...

Larry Dean Harmon stands accused of committing money laundering for his role in the Helix tumbler and mixing service offered on AlphaBay, a darknet site. For those wondering how these services run afoul of the law, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has helpfully released their side of the story, clearly laying out what Harmon allegedly did. For those who don't know what a coin mixer or tumbler do, these service allegedly offer to obscure the traceability of cryptocurrency. While they advertise that this increases privacy for users, it can also be interpreted as a form of money laundering, particularly when the transactions being obscured are for illicit purposes. That's what the DOJ is highlighting in this case. "Helix allegedly laundered hundreds of millions of dollars of illicit narcotics proceeds and other criminal profits for Darknet users around the globe," said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the DOJ's Criminal Division.  "This ind...

Cryptocurrencies have gained significant value over the last few weeks and it's causing exuberance among digital currency proponents. Now a number of traders and influencers believe bitcoin and other coins are in bullish territory. Despite the surge to $13K last July and the deep pullback that followed, BTC investors and influencers have no issue believing that crypto is on the threshold of another bull market. 'Calling the Bull' Is a Bold Move, But a Number of People Are Doing So After BTC Surpasses $10K Bitcoin traders, analysts, and thought leaders on social media and forums seem to think that the crypto market is facing another bull run. Statements about a "bull market" and a possible "altcoin season" are littered all over Twitter and news articles about the cryptoconomy's swift rise. You can find a number of crypto influencers explaining that the bitcoin bull market is overdue for a variety of reasons. Some people claim the reward halving is pus...

A recompilation of some of this week's cryptocurrency activity shows that the Bitcoin ecosystem is rapidly evolving in 2020. Just barely a month has been put in the books, but not a day goes by without some advance being seen in crypto technology, regulations or operations. As the first week of February comes to a close, it is becoming more apparent that this year is going to see a lot of positive action as digital currencies continue to play a more prominent role in finance. Despite India not yet knowing how it wants to view the crypto world, at least one exchange is willing to weather the storm and see what happens. Zebpay has announced that it will make a return to the country after shutting down just a year ago over regulatory confusion. Perhaps this will be the year that the Reserve Bank of India wakes up and realizes that it can't stop progress. While they are at varying stages of addressing the technology, more central banks than ever are broaching the subject of central...

European authorities have arrested 10 suspects accused of defrauding over $6 million from tens of investors. The suspects conducted a crypto pyramid scheme targeting investors in several European countries, including France, Belgium and the U.K. The arrests are the culmination of an extensive investigation that began in 2018. The investigation was led by Europol and Eurojust, EU agencies that focus on law enforcement and criminal justice cooperation respectively. In a press release, Eurojust indicated that the scheme had defrauded 85 investors, mainly from France and Belgium, although it was based in Israel. The scheme targeted its victims by phone, promising them incredible returns of up to 35% for a small investment. In a classic pyramid scheme technique, the fraudsters paid off the initial investors using money raised from late-stage investors. The initial payments led many of the investors to stake more money and recommend the scheme to others. However, after some time, the payment...