{"id":10466,"date":"2018-10-23T22:26:19","date_gmt":"2018-10-23T22:26:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=10466"},"modified":"2018-12-02T16:49:21","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T16:49:21","slug":"news-australia-nah-mate-to-blockchains-bitfinex-tether-push-rothschild-conspiracy-theories-jpeg-blockchain-drm-miners-as-locusts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/10\/23\/news-australia-nah-mate-to-blockchains-bitfinex-tether-push-rothschild-conspiracy-theories-jpeg-blockchain-drm-miners-as-locusts\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Australia &#8220;nah mate&#8221; to blockchains, Bitfinex\/Tether push Rothschild conspiracy theories, JPEG blockchain DRM, miners as locusts, Initiative Q"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>&#8220;The market can stay irrational longer than you can retain hope for humanity.&#8221; \u2014 Klyith<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/05\/12\/news-facebook-crypto-coin-upbit-raided-australia-spanish-taxes-excel-coin-miners-ben-shapiros-bitcoin-ira\/\">Back in May,<\/a> Australia&#8217;s Digital Transformation Authority got AUD$700,000 in the May budget to \u201cprovide $0.7 million in 2018\u201319 for the Digital Transformation agency to investigate areas where blockchain technology could offer the most value for Government services\u201d\u00a0\u2014 apparently at the personal request of then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.innovationaus.com\/2018\/10\/DTA-goes-cold-on-blockchain\">The DTA&#8217;s come back:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For every use of blockchain that you would consider today there is a better technology &#8230; a lot of the big vendors are pushing blockchain very hard and internationally most of the hype around blockchain is coming from vendors and companies, not from governments and users and deliverers of services. It&#8217;s not that we don&#8217;t trust any of the vendors\u00a0\u2014 that would be an unfair characterisation \u2014 we trust the vendors, but note that the motivation is generally sales and making revenue.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This was chief digital officer Peter Alexander to a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday morning \u2014 the transcript will likely be out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aph.gov.au\/Parliamentary_Business\/Hansard\/Estimates_Transcript_Schedule\">later this week.<\/a> This is 100% the correct conclusion, and I hope they went through the sensible process of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com.au\/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts\/dp\/1974000060\">spending $30<\/a> on my book, writing the conclusion, and putting the next $699,970 toward the booze that would be medically necessary to recover from knowing about blockchains. <strong>Edit:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/10\/24\/transcript-digital-transformation-agency-on-blockchain-to-australian-senate-finance-and-public-administration-legislation-committee-tuesday-23-october-2018\/\">full transcript<\/a> now up.<\/p>\n<p>Also in Australia \u2014 Global Tech, a &#8220;crypto community for the people, by the people&#8221; company fronted by cricketer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/national\/david-leyonhjelm-to-make-a-run-for-state-parliament-20181016-p50a1r.html\">Michael Clarke,<\/a> has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/business\/companies\/michael-clarke-backed-cryptocurrency-folds-after-asic-comes-knocking-20181022-p50b88.html\">folded<\/a> after the local securities regulator ASIC called them up to have a word. &#8220;As a result of this Global Tech has issued full refunds to all investors.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If tethers are indeed each backed by a genuine US dollar, then the Bitfinex crypto exchange, owners of Tether, has been taking advantage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/10\/15\/is-bitcoin-going-to-the-moon-no-its-tether-going-down-the-plughole\/\">depressed price of tethers<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 they&#8217;ve taken <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/bitfinex-took-630-million-tether-out-of-circulation-after-drop-below-1\/\">630 million back out of circulation.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/tether-floods-into-kraken-exchange-where-crypto-traders-can-get-dollars\/\">tethers flood into Kraken<\/a> \u2014 one of the few exchanges where you can trade USDT directly for USD. Ignore that tethers are not available to US residents, while Kraken USD withdrawals are <em>only<\/em> available to US residents \u2014 said US residents <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Bitfinexed\/status\/1054085943005720576\">certainly are.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, but on the <em>blockchain:<\/em> Bitfinex themselves are hot on the case of the Mysterious Manipulation of Tether Prices \u2014 they think the culprits are &#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coinspeaker.com\/2018\/10\/19\/bitfinex-investigation-outcomes-manipulations-with-the-fall-in-the-usdt-trading-bots-involved\/\">the ROTHSCHILDS!!<\/a> Yes, it was an <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/the-conspiracist-gold-bug-economics-of-bitcoin\/\">International Banker conspiracy theory<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and not <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/10\/17\/bitfinexs-banking-problems-solved-snitches-get-stitches\/\">Bitfinex&#8217;s banking problems,<\/a> or Tether&#8217;s continuing failure to produce an audit or redeem tethers.\u00a0 But don&#8217;t worry, bitcoiners only<em> occasionally<\/em> start ranting about Zionists.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Everything after mid-2013 is essentially a combination of Mt. Gox fraud and Bitfinex fraud&#8221; \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/modernconsensus.com\/bitfinexed-interview-tether-bitfinex\/\">Bitfinex&#8217;ed interviewed<\/a> by Modern Consensus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Next is the location of a second &quot;Bitfinex Headquarters&quot;. At this location they had indeed heard of Bitfinex, however the two employees in the office insisted that they did little but simple paper work.<\/p>\n<p>Not headquarters.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LG6aVNTHoI\">pic.twitter.com\/LG6aVNTHoI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CasPiancey (@CasPiancey) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CasPiancey\/status\/1053870670147244032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 21, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Blockchain advocates tout as their latest HUGE SUCCESS! &#8230; a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/9f37e95c-d6a4-11e8-a854-33d6f82e62f8\">centralised securities depository,<\/a> to be run in France by UK fintech Setl. But the backend is sort of blockchainy, honest.<\/p>\n<p>It seems Barclays Bank put its crypto trading desk project <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/UbVBm\">&#8220;on ice&#8221;<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly two-thirds of those seeking cryptocurrency agent certification \u2014 about 250 lawyers, accountants and auditors \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofmalta.com\/mobile\/articles\/view\/20181018\/local\/two-thirds-fail-cryptocurrency-agent-exam.691802\">failed to pass the Malta Financial Services Authority exam.<\/a> This was\u00a0<em>after<\/em> the MFSA made changes to try to boost the success rate.<\/p>\n<p>The Bank of Zambia says that &#8220;while cryptocurrencies have some monetary characteristics &#8230; cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Zambia&#8221; and that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lusakatimes.com\/2018\/10\/13\/cryptocurrencies-are-not-legal-tender-in-zambia-boz\/\">the general public should be aware of the risks.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The SEC has launched a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/press-release\/2018-240\">Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology<\/a> \u2014 a special office just to talk to ICOs and similar regulation hazards. Because they&#8217;d rather you did it right, and not wrong. For instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/news\/press-release\/2018-242\">don&#8217;t claim SEC approval when you&#8217;re publicising your ICO.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>How the CFTC is addressing the <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/07\/30\/augurs-big-problem-is-not-the-assassination-markets-its-being-a-bucket-shop\/\">prediction market as bucket shop<\/a> problem \u2014 they&#8217;re contemplating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cftc.gov\/PressRoom\/SpeechesTestimony\/opaquintenz16\">coming after the developers.<\/a> &#8220;<span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think the appropriate question is whether these code developers could reasonably foresee, at the time they created the code, that it would likely be used by U.S. persons in a manner violative of CFTC regulations.<\/span>&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>President Trump&#8217;s trade war with China just hit Bitmain\u00a0\u2014 AntMiners will have an <a href=\"http:\/\/translate.google.com\/translate?hl=en&amp;sl=auto&amp;tl=en&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fcoinrevolution.com%2Fzh-CN%2F%25E7%25BB%25BC%25E8%25BF%25B017-10-18%25E8%2583%259C%25E8%25BF%2587%25E8%25B4%25B8%25E6%2598%2593%25E6%2588%2598%25E7%259A%2584%25E5%2591%25BD%25E4%25B8%25AD%25E7%258E%2587%25E6%259B%25B4%25E5%25A4%259A%2F\">extra 27.5% tariff.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Joint Photographic Experts Group&#8217;s Touradj Ebrahimi on people not liking <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/08\/10\/the-jpeg-committee-is-exploring-blockchain-to-put-drm-into-jpeg\/\">JPEG&#8217;s blockchain DRM initiative:<\/a> &#8220;Most of the comments are stupid and rubbish by people who have no clues about what they are talking about. No wonder Trump became president!!! These people deserve no better!!!&#8221; JPEG&#8217;s Vancouver Blockchain workshop has produced some documents, which found their way to the <a href=\"http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20181023092746\/https:\/\/jpeg.org\/static\/wg1n81033-Blockchain_Workshop_Vancouver_Proceedings.zip\">Internet Archive.<\/a> If they&#8217;re claiming their Blockchain JPEG initiative is <em>totally<\/em> not about the DRM bits, they need to stop talking quite so much about the management of digital restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s KodakOne&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2018\/10\/19\/1624192\/0\/en\/Announcing-the-launch-of-the-KODAKOne-Post-Licensing-Portal-PLP.html\">official launch announcement<\/a> for their Post-Licensing Portal! That&#8217;s &#8220;launch&#8221; as in &#8220;not launched yet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As usual, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/business\/pioneer-of-eastern-washington-cryptocurrency-boom-falls-on-hard-times\/\">bitcoiners&#8217; contribution to green energy<\/a> is a lot like locusts&#8217; contribution to other greenery \u2014 &#8220;miners requested approximately 1,500 megawatts of power \u2014 or nearly three times as much as the county\u2019s residents and businesses were using.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When normal people find out just <em>how much<\/em> power Bitcoin uses, they get justifiably angry. &#8220;Bitcoin (and its many mutations and outgrowths) is a planetary-scale mistake, a whiny tech-bro fantasy and an environmental catastrophe <em>that\u2019s already happening.<\/em>&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@bowbrick\/destroy-bitcoin-smash-the-mining-rigs-9a128e0ee063\">Destroy Bitcoin. Smash the mining rigs.<\/a> And \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sluggerotoole.com\/2018\/10\/12\/bitcoin-must-die\/\">Bitcoin is made from ashes,<\/a> and if ashes were legal tender, humanity would burn everything in sight and call it progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Weaknesses in the Web 3.0 thesis: <a href=\"https:\/\/theblockcrypto.com\/2018\/10\/16\/weaknesses-in-the-web-3-0-thesis\/\">&#8220;Trust is Social and No One Understands the Math.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no Technical Analysis astrologer like a Bitcoin Technical Analysis astrologer. Here&#8217;s Ryan Okrant (<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/2D2jUXf\">US<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/amzn.to\/2S7kTtz\">UK<\/a>)\u00a0\u2014 and I think he&#8217;s serious. (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/edmund_schuster\/status\/1054510278749106176\">Edmund Schuster:<\/a> &#8220;Also like how all good reviews were written within 24 hours. 5 million years of data, but the enthusiasts all dropped in on a rainy day in Feb. THAT\u2019S what I call a previously missed micro indicator.&#8221;)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/10\/23\/news-australia-nah-mate-to-blockchains-bitfinex-tether-push-rothschild-conspiracy-theories-jpeg-blockchain-drm-miners-as-locusts\/okrant\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-10474\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-10474 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/okrant.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"648\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/okrant.png 648w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/okrant-300x105.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/06\/24\/initiative-q-a-non-crypto-private-currency-marketed-by-pyramid-scheme\/\">post about Initiative Q<\/a> has been taking off again \u2014 500 hits most days, 4000 hits yesterday, 23,000 so far today \u2014 and is, literally, the third-most-popular I have ever written anywhere in my entire life. As the <em>only<\/em> detailed critical post on Initiative Q, I expect this to continue. This morning, my stepdaughter posted the article link on her Facebook, to get her more gullible friends to stop advertising this rubbish \u2014 what a well-brought-up young woman. I just recorded an interview about Initiative Q for BBC 5 Live &#8220;Up All Night&#8221;, which will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m0000t8g\">here on iPlayer<\/a> by tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n<p>The BBC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/business-45919700#\">quotes me<\/a> concerning the problem with blockchains: &#8220;All the people selling magical flying unicorn ponies, and writing in detail about the measurements of the wing feathers, are ignoring that unicorns don&#8217;t exist.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve just polished up my <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/press-coverage\/\">press coverage<\/a> page, with a section of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/press-coverage\/#academic\">academic citations<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 more welcomed!\u00a0\u2014 and handy internal links to each section. I always say &#8220;yes&#8221; to <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/press-coverage\/#interviews-media\">podcasts and media!<\/a> Contact me now!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not only are the Elon Musk Bitcoin scammers still on twitter, not only are they using hacked verified accounts to run their game, but now Twitter is taking their money to run &quot;Promoted Tweets&quot; from these goons. Great job guys. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TPwqT1eZEQ\">pic.twitter.com\/TPwqT1eZEQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/1053306689615650822?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<br><br><div align=\"center\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\"><img src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/become_a_patron_button.svg\" alt=\"Become a Patron!\" title=\"Become a Patron!\" width=217 height=51><\/a><br><p style=\"align:center;\" class=\"patreon-badge\"><i>Your subscriptions keep this site going. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/bePatron?u=8420236\">Sign up today!<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The market can stay irrational longer than you can retain hope for humanity.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[961,138,844,38,84,343,167,100,492,743,498,372,6,963,796,965,33,962,39,503,964],"class_list":["post-10466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-asic","tag-australia","tag-barclays","tag-bitfinex","tag-bitfinexed","tag-bitmain","tag-cftc","tag-china","tag-france","tag-initiative-q","tag-jpeg","tag-kodakone","tag-links","tag-malta","tag-prediction-markets","tag-ryan-okrant","tag-sec","tag-setl","tag-tether","tag-touradj-ebrahimi","tag-zambia"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10466"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10521,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10466\/revisions\/10521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}