{"id":8385,"date":"2018-06-29T22:06:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T22:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=8385"},"modified":"2018-06-30T00:46:58","modified_gmt":"2018-06-30T00:46:58","slug":"news-me-at-intelligence-squared-on-monday-darknet-busts-ross-ulbricht-appeal-rejected-bitfinex-tether-expedia-drops-bitcoin-givecrypto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/06\/29\/news-me-at-intelligence-squared-on-monday-darknet-busts-ross-ulbricht-appeal-rejected-bitfinex-tether-expedia-drops-bitcoin-givecrypto\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Me at Intelligence Squared on Monday, darknet busts, Ross Ulbricht appeal rejected, Bitfinex\/Tether, Expedia drops Bitcoin, GiveCrypto"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monthly beg cycle: This blog runs on sponsorship! I use the Guardian model \u2014 no paywall, but if you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\">sign up,<\/a> it keeps the good stuff coming. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/davidgerard\">$5\/mo<\/a> is like buying me an appreciative pint once a month!<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Don&#8217;t forget the Intelligence Squared panel discussion, next Monday 2 July at 7:00pm at the Emmanuel Centre, London SW1P 3DW \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.intelligencesquared.com\/events\/blockchain-quantum-leap-forward-or-digital-snake-oil\/\">Blockchain: Quantum leap forward or digital snake oil?<\/a> The other speakers are blockchain academic <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/yaoeo\">Primavera De Filippi,<\/a> author <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamieJBartlett\">Jamie Bartlett<\/a> and the founder of Liberland, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/V%C3%ADt_Jedli%C4%8Dka\">V\u00edt Jedli\u010dka.<\/a> Moderator is BBC economics editor <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbckamal\">Kamal Ahmed.<\/a> Tickets are still available \u2014 \u00a330 full price, \u00a315 student.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/06\/26\/news-me-at-intelligence-squared-next-monday-lightning-network-99-failure-rate-nvidia-video-card-glut-microsoft-ey-blockchain-reserve-bank-of-australia-us-secret-service-art-on-the-blockchain\/iq2-blockchain\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8232\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/iq2-blockchain.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"240\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/iq2-blockchain.jpg 960w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/iq2-blockchain-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/iq2-blockchain-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Justice Department targets darknet vendors by tracking particular bitcoins \u2014 and 35 innovative entrepreneurs are suddenly enlightened as to the true meaning of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/first-nationwide-undercover-operation-targeting-darknet-vendors-results-arrests-more-35\">&#8220;prosecution futures.&#8221;<\/a> When you spend bitcoins, you are spending <i>marked bills.<\/i><\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Oh no! The US Supreme Court just <a href=\"https:\/\/uk.reuters.com\/article\/uk-usa-court-silkroad\/us-supreme-court-turns-away-silk-road-website-founders-appeal-idUKKBN1JO1YS\">refused to hear<\/a> Silk Road kingpin Ross Ulbricht&#8217;s final appeal. See <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/table-of-contents\/\">chapter 4<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/book\/\">the book<\/a> for the tale. Sorry for your Ross.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Bloomberg nails down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/graphics\/2018-tether-kraken-trades\/\">how incredibly obvious it is<\/a> that Tether trading is utterly manipulated. None of this will be news to anyone following the Tether saga\u00a0\u2014 Bitfinex&#8217;ed posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7LlCKQjwmFM&amp;feature=youtu.be\">a video<\/a> of Tether <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2017\/12\/17\/why-you-cant-cash-out-pt-1-why-bitcoins-price-is-largely-fictional\/\">wash trading<\/a> on Kraken in November\u00a0\u2014 but it&#8217;s nice to see this making the papers, and in an utterly undeniable manner.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>You&#8217;ll be almost as shocked to hear that Bitfinex is <a href=\"https:\/\/usethebitcoin.com\/bitfinex-users-say-fiat-deposits-are-not-being-processed\/\">having banking problems again,<\/a> even for those customers large enough to deal in fiat \u2014 &#8220;In other situations, there is no bounce back or deposit, leaving users without a clear answer about what happened with their funds.&#8221;<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/thedailydose\/tether-double-spending-vulnerability-confirmed-exchanges-may-be-at-risk-6-28-2018-beea0f19dd51\">Scary news:<\/a> oh no, a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SlowMist_Team\/status\/1012362798137872384\">double-spend<\/a> on Tether! What actually happened is that an (unnamed) exchange misconfigured their Tether software \u2014 so some transactions were marked &#8220;valid&#8221; when they weren&#8217;t. The consequence is that the exchange thought they had more tethers than they did, and incorrectly credited their customer with tethers. Tether runs as OmniLayer tokens on top of Bitcoin \u2014 much as <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/icos-magic-beans-and-bubble-machines\/\">ERC-20 ICO token<\/a>s run on top of Ethereum \u2014 and Omni is designed so you can&#8217;t double-spend the tokens without double-spending the underlying bitcoins. See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CryptoCurrency\/comments\/8ulr0t\/a_doublespend_has_been_successfully_performed_on\/e1gispn\/\">responses<\/a> from the Omni developers \u2014 &#8220;if the transaction is marked as valid and omnicore shows the expected balance, you shouldn&#8217;t have anything to worry about.&#8221;<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Vice: <a href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/wjbk9m\/what-you-need-to-know-about-tether-the-cryptocurrency-accused-of-propping-up-bitcoin\">What you need to know about Tether, the cryptocurrency accused of propping up Bitcoin<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 with a quote from me.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Expedia stops taking Bitcoin as of 10 June \u2014 Bitcoiners <a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/confirmed-travel-booking-giant-expedia-has-quietly-removed-bitcoin-payment-option\">finally notice<\/a> 27 June.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to watch Bitcoin sinks slowly in the west, GDAX is now Coinbase Pro. I favour this exchange because it&#8217;s one of the few that exchanges directly to actual dollars. You can <a href=\"https:\/\/pro.coinbase.com\/trade\/BTC-USD\">view the BTC\/USD pair here.<\/a><\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s mathematically impossible for Bitcoin to go under 5600. There are no numbers under that.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/1012662990641025026?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 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<ul>\n<li>Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong has started a crypto charity, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.givecrypto.org\/\">GiveCrypto<\/a> \u2014 and if recipients start using cryptos for actual economic activity, all the better, they consider. Armstrong <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/givecrypto\/introducing-givecrypto-org-fce707da03ee\">asks you, and whales especially,<\/a> to please donate. It&#8217;s a tax-deductible 501(c)3, via their fiscal sponsor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pledgegroup.org\/\">the Pledge Group.<\/a><\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\/r\/bitcoin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Bitcoin\/comments\/8rgq0c\/lightning_network_submarine_swaps\/e0rq1ke\/\">attempts to use<\/a> the \u26a1Lightning Network\u26a1 \u2014 the <em>future<\/em> of payments! It doesn&#8217;t work so well. &#8220;Alas, I can only receive $5 via that channel once I&#8217;ve spent $5. :(&#8220;<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">the lightning network is in a constant quantum superposition between having existed for ages every time someone criticises bitcoin&#39;s transaction rate, and not being released yet every time someone tries to use it<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Buttcoin (@ButtCoin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ButtCoin\/status\/1012779095455944704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">What I love about Bitcoin: the people who love it most have already abandoned it in their hearts, and spend their days fantasizing about a totally new currency network that\u2019s nothing like it.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matthew Green (@matthew_d_green) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/matthew_d_green\/status\/1012113173602848768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 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<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/06\/27\/battbump-update-the-project-backs-down-on-its-claims-then-cancels-and-vanishes\/\">BattBump<\/a> gets a write-up in Heise Online from Torsten Kleinz: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heise.de\/newsticker\/meldung\/Aus-fuer-skurrile-BattBump-Kampagne-Smartphone-Akkus-per-NFC-laden-4093729.html\">Smartphone-Akkus per NFC laden: Aus f\u00fcr skurrile BattBump-Kampagne<\/a> \u2014 with a quote from me.<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The advertising industry wasn&#8217;t so impressed with <a href=\"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2018\/06\/16\/that-weird-world-cup-tv-ad-for-hdacs-internet-of-things-on-the-blockchain-whats-going-on-here\/\">Hdac&#8217;s incomprehensible Bitcoin fan fiction<\/a> either \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.campaignlive.co.uk\/article\/turkey-week-hdac-scores-own-goal-weird-blockchain-spot\/1486150\">Turkey of the week: Hdac scores own goal with weird blockchain spot.<\/a><\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I&#39;ve spent the last few weeks trying to understand how blockchain could help solve the quagmire that&#39;s supply chain management.<br \/>I&#39;ve discovered that the #1 reason why people believe blockchain and supply chain management go together is that they both have &quot;chain&quot; in their name.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Trolly McTrollface (@Tr0llyTr0llFace) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tr0llyTr0llFace\/status\/1012650658011451392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 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<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Look, I get that everything looks like a nail when you&#39;re selling the hammers. But maybe, just maybe, people don&#39;t want this because it&#39;s just not how people want to interact with their money and transactions, and they probably have a point there.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chris Armstrong (@DrCDArmstrong) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrCDArmstrong\/status\/1012685239372611586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 29, 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>No, there wasn&#8217;t a double-spend on Tether \u2014 just an exchange error.  And the Lightning Network still doesn&#8217;t work. And don&#8217;t forget Intelligence Squared on Monday!<\/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":[750,38,709,759,732,233,6,327,39],"class_list":["post-8385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-battbump","tag-bitfinex","tag-expedia","tag-givecrypto","tag-hdac","tag-lightning-network","tag-links","tag-ross-ulbricht","tag-tether"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385","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=8385"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8423,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8385\/revisions\/8423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}