Bitcoin Guru

A South Korean university has announced that it's building a blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) campus in the city of Daegu. The campus will take a year to construct, with admission set to begin in 2021. Suseong University partnered on the initiative with the Korea Artificial Intelligence Association (KORAIA). In an announcement on local outlet Money Today, the university revealed that the campus will also focus on other emerging technologies such as big data and cloud computing. A number of technology companies based in Daegu have already signed up to be part of the project. They will provide training to the students, as well as practical experience. They include Wooshin Co. Ltd, an AI company based in Daegu. The COVID-19 crisis has created a need for more robust systems, and combining blockchain with AI is the best way to respond to this need, according to Kim Kun-woo, the university's Planning and Coordination Division director. Kun-woo further revealed that the uni...

U.S. banking giant JPMorgan Chase Bank has agreed to a settlement in the amount of $2.5 million to end an ongoing class action lawsuit over digital currency fees. The case was raised by bank customers after it emerged the bank had decided to charge digital currency transactions as if they were cash advances, attracting higher fees than other types of transactions. Such transactions were historically charged as purchases until 2018, when the bank unexpectedly switched to treating digital transactions as advances. The case was raised by Brady Tucker, who was joined shortly thereafter by Ryan Hilton, Stanton Smith, and other Chase customers. While the settlement sees no acknowledgement of wrongdoing, the plaintiffs have welcomed the flexibility of the bank in reaching a conclusion to the matter. In a statement on behalf of the plaintiffs, Tucker said the settlement was a good outcome to the case. "This settlement represents an outstanding result for settlement class members. Plaintif...

Happy Pizza Day! And this year, please make mine extra spicy. Yes, it's May 22 again, the day all Bitcoiners celebrate by ordering a pizza. Any pizza is good, but to make it special you'll need to buy it with Bitcoin—don't make the mistake of using BTC these days though, because at the time of writing the average transaction fee on the BTC network is US$6.28. What is Pizza Day and why is it significant? Today is actually the 10th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day. It's significant because it marks the first (or at least, the first documented) purchase of real-world goods with Bitcoin. Before then, mining and transacting with Bitcoin was largely a hobbyist pursuit, so the purchase proved that Bitcoin could have a real-world dollar value. This in turn sent a price signal to the nascent "market" for Bitcoin, and became the first benchmark for BTC value. The rest, as they say, is history. On May 18, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz of Jacksonville, Florida, posted on the Bitco...

A new report by Crystal Blockchain, the cryptocurrency analytic and transaction tracing platform created by Bitfury, reveals a number of statistics regarding darknet transaction flows between BTC mixing services, digital currency exchanges, and other darknet entities. The Data Crystal Blockchain's report "reviews the use of BTC by darknet entities; [as well as] analyzes darknet interactions with exchanges and other entities throughout the first quarter of 2020 and compares it to historical darknet activity from the past three years." Ultimately, Crystal Blockchain found that the total number of BTC being sent and received by these exchanges has decreased, however, the total amount of USD has grown significantly. Key findings The report found that the amount of BTC sent to digital currency mixing services—services that mix digital currency funds from different sources together to obscure the trail back to the original source—rose by over 2000%. In Q1 2019, only $3 million ...

ABTCoin, a digital currency startup that was found guilty of violating federal securities laws, has just told New York federal judge Vernon S. Broderick that they cannot pay the $250,000 settlement that they agreed to pay plaintiffs. $20 million ICO but financially struggling On May 12, ABTCoins lawyers from Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLC wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick saying the company was not able to pay the settlement cost that they proposed "due to a change in circumstances." The lawyers also added that ABTCoin was not able to cover their legal costs, and therefore, Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLC lawyers were requesting to withdraw from the case. This news comes as a surprise considering that ABTCoin raised more than $20 million in its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO). Before hosting a token sale, ABTCoin told potential investors that it was going to use the funds that they raise to create "the fastest blockchain in the world....

The founder of an alleged digital currency Ponzi scheme alleged to have scammed $9 million from unsuspecting investors has been denied a reprieve from custody, after citing health concerns over COVID-19. Judge John Tuchi rejected an emergency motion for release from prison submitted on behalf of alleged digital currency scammer John Caruso of Zima Digital Assets, as he awaits trial on charges that could result in a five-year prison sentence. Caruso said that the risks of COVID-19 meant that there was a health risk to his ongoing detention, in a motion considered by the court this week. Judge Tuchi denied the motion on the grounds that Caruso poses a significant flight risk, as well as highlighting the potentially larger risks of contracting COVID-19 in the outside world. The denial is the second time the argument has been heard by a judge. Previously, Judge Michelle Burns pointed out that 28-year-old Caruso was healthy and unlikely to suffer adverse effects from coronavirus in any even...

Blockchain intelligence company Chainalysis has announced a new initiative aimed at highlighting its work in identifying digital currency based crime. The New York-based firm has published three installments of its new Crypto Intelligence Briefs, which is designed to cast light on the mechanisms used for illegal transactions in digital currency. While none of the firms are currently under investigation, Chainalysis said it was publishing the information to support the activities of law enforcement agencies investigating digital currency crime. In its first brief, Chainalysis spotlights Black Host, a hosting provider which describes itself as "bulletproof," by offering secure hosting anonymously. As part of its offer, Black Host supports crypto payments for its services, which in itself is another factor of pseudonymity for users. The brief demonstrates that Black Host has been used by an individual or group linked to a BTC address known to be associated with the Lazarus Group...

Chinese processing hardware manufacturer Bitmain has admitted there are problems with its Antminer S17, following a growing number of complaints posted to social media. The company acknowledged that some users were experiencing problems, the first time it has acknowledged the difficulties many of their customers had been reporting online. According to a spokesperson for the company, Bitmain was beginning to negotiate with customers who had run into difficulties with their hardware. Antminer is paying close attention to the issues of some products from the 17 series, which has recently been mentioned by the media. The issue first raised its head earlier this month, after an entrepreneur started a Telegram group to highlight what he described as a "bad batch" of S17 units. According to the group, some 30% of the models delivered had experienced serious glitches or failed within a single month of operation. Having grown to some 160 members, the group now contains several other m...

Major changes are happening in the cryptocurrency space in Japan as new cryptocurrency regulation enters into force today. Among notable changes are the regulation of crypto custody service providers and crypto derivatives businesses. Japan has 23 regulated crypto exchanges; unregulated platforms have modified their terms of service affecting Japanese residents. Japan Adopts New Way to Regulate Crypto Industry The amendments to the Payment Services Act (PSA) and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) that revise the regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in Japan go into effect on May 1. They were proposed by the country's top financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), and adopted by the Diet on May 31 last year. The finalized rules were published on April 3 along with the FSA's answers to public comments. International law firm Morrison & Foerster described: The regulations coming into effect as of May 1, 2020, represent a significant change in t...

The World Economic Forum has published a roadmap for blockchain deployment, part of a new toolkit for businesses implementing blockchain technology in real world applications. In particular, the NGO said its blockchain deployment toolkit would provide a guide to building better supply chains, powered by distributed ledger technology. According to the report's authors, the case for greater reliance on blockchain technology is made stronger by the current global health pandemic. "The case for blockchain is stronger as the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for more resilient global supply chains, trusted data and an economic recovery enabled through trade digitization." Nadia Hewett, head of digital currency at the World Economic Forum, Nadia Hewett, said the pandemic provided businesses with the chance to improve their systems. "This time we really do see a big momentum behind making sure this time that they capture the momentum and that we bake into our solutions...