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Bank vault
Bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi today launched a full public proof-of-solvency service for its customers, saying it is the first digital currency exchange in the world to do so.The “unapologetically Canadian” company has embarked on a string of compliance and transparency initiatives in the past months. In March, it received a full Money Services Business licence to operate in all provinces of Canada and serve international customers in listed countries.Vault of Satoshi (VoS) said its new proof-of-solvency system is “not just an audit”, but provides full proof via cryptographic trees that it holds all the bitcoins it claims to have in reserve.Said Director of Marketing Adam Cochran:“At Vault of Satoshi we have always tried to embody the mantra of being an open, honest and transparent exchange. We feel it’s our duty to do so when you make the decision to place your funds in our hands.For this reason we have long sought after a way to prove our reserves to the public in a safe and reliable manner, while most exchanges issue a third-party audit, we felt that simply wasn’t open enough – so today at Vault of Satoshi we are proud to announce full proof of solvency and the publication of our cold wallet.”VoS said there may be a 5-6% discrepancy in total reserve value, as it has chosen not to publish its hot wallet address for security reasons.Registered users can self validate both their balance and the overall reserves of the exchange by selecting ‘BTC Proof of Solvency’ in in the company’s online Security Center.“From there, load the partial tree list, select ‘online tools’ and copy paste in the relevant information to validate the holdings,” Cochran explained.Demand for transparencyThe announcement comes at a time of increasing exasperation at the number of bitcoin-related services (and their proprietors) that have suddenly vanished along with their customers’ money. There is also a noticable reluctance to act, at least in a timely manner, on these cases by financial authorities or law enforcement.Rather than lobbying for greater regulation, however, bitcoin users are instead calling on exchanges and wallet services to be more transparent in their operations, and to provide other guarantees that customer funds exist and are secure.It’s likely the digital currency world will soon see a rush to transparency as trust becomes one of its most valuable commodities.Exchange Kraken recently passed an independent audit of its reserves with flying colors, and Blockchain has always allowed its users to retain full control of their private keys. Other wallet services, like China’s Bifubao, have unveiled cryptographic ‘Merkle tree’ checking techniques that customers can access for greater peace of mind.Enhanced featuresVault of Satoshi’s new licensed Money Services Business status gives its Canadian and some international users a greater range of options when buying and trading digital currencies. It allows buying and selling via cheques, certified cheques, bill payments, the ‘Interac’ debit system, money orders, bank drafts, and bank wires.The company also recently launched a ‘Coin-to-Coin’ feature that allowed customers to exchange any digital currency for another without needing to trade through one of the major currencies (ie: BTC or LTC). Non-verified users, who do not deal in any fiat currencies on the site, may also access this section of the exchange.Bank vault image via Shutterstock CanadaVault of Satoshi
Original author: Jon Southurst

dark-market-home
Airbitz has won the Bitcoin Expo hackathon in Toronto with DarkMarket, an innovative peer-to-peer market open to everyone, everywhere.The Airbitz team is best known for the upcoming Airbitz wallet, a cloud-based solution with client-side encryption that aims to maximise security. The project has web, Android and even iOS versions.A P2P market for everyoneDeveloper Amir Taaki delivered the hackathon presentation, though he forgot to mention exactly what the team hacked. That was left to fellow Airbitz developer William Swanson, who explained the DarkMarket concept in detail:DarkMarket is a decentralised P2P marketplace which cannot be shut down. It can be joined by anyone and in many respects it looks rather mature, with identity and reputation rankings, seller pages, multisig escrow, private messaging and privacy features.The developers stress that DarkMarket is not envisioned as a black market for illicit goods. It is designed to level the playing field and help out emerging markets.“The free market is any trade unregulated by the state. The term ‘black market’ arises from the inability of the state to see and thereby control trade, but applies equally to trade over which the state asserts no control. In a free market each exchange is a voluntary agreement between two parties,” the team stated following the event.Hackathon winnings used for developmentThe team cites World Bank research which found a strong correlation between formal account penetration and GDP per capita.The results indicate that people in wealthier nations are more likely to rely on banks. Thus, businesses in developed markets would lose their competitive advantage if similar services were available in every market.At the same time, a P2P market could – in theory – reduce the regulatory burden, allowing businesses to reduce their costs and improve competitiveness. The team concluded:“The catch is that free markets do not exist on a large scale. The means of exchange itself is heavily regulated. In order to trade freely one must either accept unreasonable risk by lugging around piles of cash or join the heavily regulated financial system, with all of its various financial and privacy costs. [Cryptocurrency] is disrupting this model by enabling trade that does not rely on ‘formal accounts’. People can trade in cash on a larger scale.”Having stolen the show and walked off with $20,000 in bitcoins, the team say they will use their hackathon winnings to further develop libbitcoin, a pet project headed by Taaki and Pablo Martin. Some of the cash will also go towards Airbitz wallet development.AirbitzBitcoin ExpoDarkMarketToronto
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

MEVU's wearable devices. Source: MEVUWearable technology startup MEVU has announced the first wearable bitcoin wallet that tracks movement in order to make payments.Users of MEVU’s proof-of-concept bracelet – which is powered by Coinbase’s wallet API – will easily be able to send bitcoin with just a flick of the wrist.Apurv Mishra, CEO and co-founder of MEVU, said that the use case for the company’s wearable wallet is for small transactions such as tipping, whether in BTC, altcoins or perhaps even something else:“If we use bitcoin or any other currency, if it has the facility for tipping, I think that’s what people would want.”The idea came from his fascination with community-based payments that are powered through software like Dogetipbot.He explained:“[MEVU] could add a layer of payments for smaller value transactions: parking, tipping, and so on.”The reason Mishra and his team think that microtransactions are the best fit for wearable wallets is that any amount larger than $20 probably requires more confirmation than just a gesture. Two-factor authentication using a mobile phone in conjunction with MEVU’s device could help facilitate larger transactions, however.The technologyThe MEVU wristband is similar in form to the Nymi biometric wallet, but employs an advanced InvenSense motion sensor for its gesture functionality:The transactions are transmitted to a point-of-sales (POS) device using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is a common wireless feature on many mobile devices today. Said Mishra:“In BLE, we know the proximity, and then you use the gesture to authenticate the transaction.”The decision to go with BLE as a remote method for bitcoin transactions comes from the technology’s prevalence on a number of devices, according to Mishra:“Most iPads that are point-of-sale devices actually use BLE. So it can be really intuitive without adding any additional infrastructure.”Apple issuesThe problem currently, of course, is that Apple is not friendly to the idea of bitcoin wallets in its iOS ecosystem.Mishra said that MEVU is developing a version of its software that will be compatible with Android. Many Android devices also use BLE, so the concept will easily port to that platform once the company has it ready within a few months.Said Mishra:“With bitcoin, as we know, there are some challenges. We cannot bring this app to the Apple App Store. But I thought that demonstrating this is what we need, this is the direction, would be really interesting.”Recently, PayPal CEO David Marcus cited BLE and wearables as two of three core ideas that could change retail payments. MEVU’s concept is one realization of the future trends Marcus discusses in that blog post.The best currency?It’s easy to question whether bitcoin is the best answer for microtransactions, since there is a good degree of speculative holding occurring.The reality is, though, that for a startup like MEVU, it’s really easy to hook up a bitcoin concept with Coinbase’s wallet API, as opposed to integrating with other digital currencies, like dogecoin, which don’t have readily accessible wallet APIs quite yet.Furthermore, there are at least a million people with at least some bitcoin, so there could be market for technology that makes it easier to spend it. Distribution of bitcoin. Source: State of Bitcoin 2014Distribution of bitcoin. Source: State of Bitcoin 2014About MEVUAs a wearable technology company, MEVU has previously focused on ways to capture motion in order to correct behaviors. Perfecting yoga postures and golf swings were applications that the company focused on in the beginning. That makes sense, given the sports appeal that wearable devices have right now.Said Mishra:“We made sure that this motion sensing technology was so precise that we could use it for a number of applications.”The company also said it is opening up its Linux-based ALIVE OS – MEVU’s software platform – for developers to come up with other gesture-based applications.MEVU was included in Boost VC’s recent Winter Class of startups, which also invested in three bitcoin companies. Mishra said being around those bitcoin startups made the company want to do something that involved cryptocurrency:“My background is in wearable technology. But being [at Boost], I was like: ’Hey we have to do something in bitcoin’.”Pre-orders for the wearable MEVU device will start within a month. The ALIVE OS early access for developers is now available from the company’s website.Further reading: Can Wearable Tech and Bitcoin Revamp Mobile Payments?
Apruv MishraCoinbaseMEVU
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

Global network
Starting tomorrow, decentralized Internet platform builder MaidSafe will hold a crowd sale of currency-like tokens called ‘safecoins’ to support its enabling software.MaidSafe, over seven years in development, aims to create no less than a fully peer-to-peer and decentralised Internet platform, in which all data is ‘shredded’, encrypted and distributed to an extensive network of computers around the world.The technology allows developers to build applications in which all data is completely secure, private, and protected from deletion.During the initial sale, safecoins will be made available via purchase of a ‘proxy token’ called MaidSafeCoin. These are recorded on the bitcoin block chain and available from buysafecoins.com at a price of 17,000 for 1 BTC, or 3,400 for 1 MSC (Mastercoin).Initially this will raise funds for the project, but the safecoin tokens themselves are a kind of altcoin for developers and users to ‘buy’ access to network resources.The sale begins at 9 am GMT on Tuesday 22nd April.Once the MaidSafe network itself goes live, holders of MaidSafeCoins can swap them for ‘regular’ (ie: no longer on the bitcoin block chain) safecoin tokens at a 1:1 ratio.Decentralization at its coreMaidSafe, which stands for “Massive Array of Internet Disks, Secure Access For Everyone” is a 100% open-source project aiming at keeping all data free from malicious intruders and eavesdroppers, at the same time increasing access speed and protecting against hardware failure.Development of the network is also known as Project SAFE.Said David Irvine, MaidSafe’s founder and CEO:“What bitcoin is doing for decentralizing money, safecoin will do for decentralizing all Internet services, including enterprise data centers.”The organization, a 14-member team based in Scotland, was founded in 2006 and has received $5m in funding to date. It has the ambitious goal of replacing all existing major Internet protocols, including HTTP, SMTP, FTP, and DNS.No third partiesSince MaidSafe is a platform, use of its protocols is all based on a voluntary ‘contract’ between self-authenticating users and the network itself, without the participation of other humans or the need for passwords to be transmitted across any part of the network.It uses unused storage space and computing resources provided by users themselves, or ‘nodes’, to store and run the repetitive and encryption-based tasks that power the system and allow the rightful owners to access or share their data.File data is also shredded, encrypted by using its own data to generate keys, and sent to numerous physical locations.This redundancy ensures data is never accidentally lost due to deletion or hardware failure. Physical access to a complete file is impossible, locking out snoopers and data thieves. Denial of service (DOS) attacks are, according to MaidSafe’s explanation, “thwarted and useless”.Network performanceMaidSafe logoMaidSafe’s architecture features ‘intelligent caching’, which actually increases speed and network performance to the most-accessed data as more users join, rather than slowing it down due to server pressure on the existing Internet.Software running on the various nodes allocates and optimizes network resources, and routes around failures or machines that happen to be offline.The network’s nodes are chained together in a cryptographic consensus model similar to a block chain, in which they watch (anonymously) each others’ behaviour and raise the alarm in case of any discrepancy.Released to the worldAs well as open-sourcing all the code that enables the system, MaidSafe has released all its patents and algorithms for public use at no cost. The patents are officially owned by a registered charity called the MaidSafe Foundation, and are to be used “only in a defensive capacity”.Developers can access the open API to build decentralized applications that are fully secure and private.MaidSafe sees its system being used for any communications requiring this level of security and privacy, and suggests it for sharing scientific research data, whistleblowing activism, and more prosaic uses such as personal data storage, social networking, and simple communications like messaging, email and video/voice chat.“Real sharing will defeat many global issues,” says MaidSafe’s introductory video.Sale detailsThe safecoin/MaidSafeCoin crowd-sale will continue for 30 days or until 10% (429,496,729) of the total tokens are sold, whichever happens first.Bonus MaidSafeCoins will also be allocated on a sliding scale to early buyers, with first-weekers earning an extra 40%. The bonus drops 10% per week after that until the end of the initial sale.Once the MaidSafe network is live, users can still earn the remaining safecoins through the system’s ‘proof of resource’ (POR) system known as ‘farming’, by contributing part of their computers’ resources as a node on the network and using fewer resources than they contribute.Fifteen per cent of all safecoins earned will be contributed as an incentive to the pool of developers, or ‘builders’, who create the applications necessary for ordinary users to utilize MaidSafe’s features.Image & video courtesy of MaidSafeblock chainMaidSafesafecoin
Original author: Jon Southurst

hacking
Those wanting to support the OpenSSL project can now make donations in bitcoin, as well as via more traditional means of payment.First released in 1998, OpenSSL is a commercial-grade, open-source toolkit implementing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, as well as a full-strength general purpose cryptography library.Currently at version 1.0.1g, and with 1.0.2 currently in beta, it is estimated that OpenSSL is now used on two-thirds of all web servers.However, the OpenSSL project is headed by a relatively small team with just one full-time employee. The annual budget for the whole project is under $1m and much of the money comes in the form of donations through the OpenSSL Software Foundation.The OSF, which was set up to support the project, is incorporated as a regular for-profit organisation, so the donations are not tax-deductible, but corporate donations are considered business expenses.Four levels of sponsorship acknowledgement are on offer, starting at $5,000 a year, and ad hoc donations of any amount are also welcome. The foundation accepts several major credit cards and PayPal, as well as – as of a few days ago – bitcoin.OpenSSL does not get a lot of media coverage except in professional, niche publications.However, a few weeks ago the foundation got its 15 minutes of fame for all the wrong reasons, when the notorious Heartbleed bug – which was caused by an oversight in OpenSSL versions 1.0.1 through 1.0.1f – came to light.The flaw was identified two weeks ago and was quickly patched up by the vast majority of companies, including bitcoin operators and Bitcoin Core developers.Caution is still advised, however, and many sites and services are advising users to change their passwords for additional security and peace of mind.donationsHeartbleedOpenSSLpayments
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic

500startups1
Mountain View, CA-based accelerator 500 Startups has announced it is funding five bitcoin companies in its latest batch of startups with $100,000 each.The bitcoin companies are part of 500′s Batch 9 group, with 30 total companies going through four months at the accelerator to help them build a business idea.Sean Percival, who runs the incubator for this batch, says the funding will allow the bitcoin startups to really focus on product:“$100,000 for these companies is going to go a long way. For some of them it actually provides them a year of runway, so they don’t have to go raise money and they can really prove the product out.”Building bitcoin businessesIn addition to the $100,000 in funding, the bitcoin companies in the 500 Startups program will be receiving mentoring from experts within the industry.“I’m looking to bring in thought leaders in bitcoin that can help them, and to help them find the right investors”, said Percival, ”because there’s not many of them.”He believes that Silicon Valley only has a handful of investors interested in bitcoin because the total addressable market isn’t very large yet:“Consumer adoption is very low right now, and it’s not growing at the pace it probably needs to.”500 Startups is known for embracing marketing and distribution in order to build up its companies. Percival’s background is in marketing, so his experiences will translate into helping to get the word out about these businesses in order to grow mainstream awareness.TalentAnother reason why 500 Startups is so generous with its funding is because the accelerator understands the cost of hiring developer talent in Northern California.Percival says that most startups need to go out and find software development expertise to help build a company:“In most cases, they need to hire developers. And developers are costly. With that money, it’s not just one guy in a corner trying to make it work.”The Bitcoin Job Fair, being held next month at the Plug and Play Technology accelerator, is one source of that Percival sees as one avenue for finding talent in the area. “A few of them are going to attend that”, he said.Bitcoin acceleratorsThere are currently three other Silicon Valley accelerator programs that are incubating bitcoin companies in addition to 500 Startups.Boost VC has had the largest number of bitcoin-based startups go through its program and plans on funding 100 more in the next few years. Plug and Play Technology Center in Sunnyvale is also accepting bitcoin startups. And CrossCoin Ventures in downtown San Francisco is also looking to fill out its space with virtual currency companies. Source: State of Bitcoin 2014(Click to enlarge) Source: State of Bitcoin 2014Percival says that the incubator ecosystem that exists today is collegial in nature; the accelerators all understand that it takes a group of them in order to help build an industry around cryptocurrencies:“All the accelerators are sort of being very symbiotic. We’re all in this together right now, we have a lot of work to do,” Percival said.CompaniesThe five bitcoin companies in 500 Startups’ program include:GoGoCoin – sells bitcoin in gift card form to provide an easy way for users to obtain their first BTC;Bonifide.io – anonymous transaction ratings for people in order to build up a reputation score;Coinalytics – bringing real-time data to users in the form of information analytics and news aggregation;Neuroware – HTML5 wallet, private keys are stored in a user’s brain using distributed deterministic components; andMonetsu – focusing on merchant adoption and payment processing.Bitcoin is the core business for each of these companies. Altcoins aren’t at the stage that a startup should really be focusing a company on, according to Percival:“I’m mostly focused on bitcoin. I’m interested in some of the other things going on, the altcoins. But all of the companies are focused on bitcoin.”500 Startups image via betakit500 StartupsBitcoin Job FairBonifide.ioBoost VCCoinalyticsCrossCoin VenturesGogocoinMonetsuNeurowarePlug and Play Technology CenterSean Percival
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

malwareliveticker
A browser extension for Google Chrome reportedly is capable of stealing bitcoin and other altcoins from its users.Called the Cryptsy Dogecoin (DOGE) Live Ticker in the Chrome Web Store, the extension is susceptible to updates that begin monitoring visits to cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet sites.The warning about the extension was posted on reddit, along with the following advice:“Be careful of what you install on your devices you use to access your wallets.”How it steals coinsSoftware within the extension monitors web activity and looks for users who go to exchange sites such as Coinbase. During a transaction, the extension attempts to replace the receiving address with one of its own.A reddit user reported this happening in a withdrawal from cryptocurrency exchange MintPal, having had the extension installed.Extensions or add-ons that are related to cryptocurrencies are logical for malicious actors to focus on, as cryptocurrency-related software is generally used by those who hold on to coins, making themselves good targets for theft.Malware on the riseThe presence of cryptocurrency-related malware is on an upward trend. The rising value of coins, coupled with the increasing number of altcoins has essentially created a new cottage industry whereby malicious software tries to steal virtual money.Dell SecureWorks released a report in February stating that it had identified almost 150 different strains of bitcoin-related malware.Another sought-after method of malware infects a device and tries to generate coins by mining, which is not very effective given the specialized hardware now required to complete proof-of-work algorithms that reward miners.Ultimately, it ends up being a huge resource drain for users’ machines. Or, as in this instance, a seemingly useful tool like the Cryptsy Dogecoin Live Ticker ends up being used for nefarious purposes.Protecting coinsIt’s important to choose an exchange or wallet service that enables two-factor authentication. This method of verifying actions requires more than one device, which can decrease the chances of malware to make changes to transactions. Java 7 exploits continue to be an issue on PCs. Source: CiscoJava 7 exploits continue to be an issue on PCs. Source: CiscoIt might be better to simply store coins in a brain wallet or paper wallet. Bitcoin Vigil, which monitors bitcoin theft, is a concept that may be useful for thwarting thieves since even storing coins on a local machine connected to the internet has vulnerabilities.In the case of Cryptsy Dogecoin Live Ticker, it is probably better to simply stay away from add-ons and extensions because of the risks.Malware image via ShutterstockBitcoin VigilCiscoCryptsy Dogecoin Live TickerDell SecureWorksGoogle Chrome ExtensionsJavalocalbitcoinsmalwaremining malware
Original author: Daniel Cawrey

Mark Karpeles
The mother of Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles says her son is a poor communicator who easily allows others to take advantage of him, but she insists he is not dishonest.Tokyo-based Mt. Gox had been the largest and oldest bitcoin exchange in the world until it collapsed and declared itself bankrupt in late February, having lost vast amounts of its customers’ bitcoins – allegedly to hackers.In an interview with Reuters, Anne Karpeles said her son was always a bright child, a prodigy who was admitted to IQ society Mensa as a teenager. However, Anne says her son’s people skills did not keep up with his intelligence.She described Mark as a gifted child with a love of computing, but at the same time she pointed out he was a terrible student who was often taken advantage of.Easily ledKarpeles grew up in Dijon, France. Anne says he was always extremely nice and had a “tendency to let himself get taken for a ride by others”. Mark was too conciliatory and his classmates took advantage by asking him to do their homework for them, Anne said.“He was a terrible student. Terrible. Most subjects didn’t interest him. He took a Mensa test, passed it and was admitted into Mensa [...] during his teenage years. Prodigies understand things straight away, but you don’t learn without repetition, without exercises. But that he didn’t understand,” she told Reuters.Anne says, like many gifted children, Mark had a difficult childhood. He was shuffled from school to school and at one school he had “big problems” with the teacher. As a result Anne tried and failed to get Mark interested in all sorts of hobbies, from drawing and music, to cookery and sewing. None of it worked until Anne shared her love of computers with her young son.Self-taught PHP expertMark started programming BASIC on the family Sinclair when he was just five or six years old. He never went to university and decided to ditch formal education after a bad year in high school. Not long after, Anne saw him walking around with a huge book on PHP – a scripting language used for web development.Said Anne:“He told me he had become a doctor in PHP.”Mark started working in tech and tried to set up a server company in Israel. He then joined software firm Nexway and in 2009 he was offered a post in Japan. He was happy to take the job, having long held a fascination for the Land of the Rising Sun.However, even though his software career took off, Mark’s people skills did not improve. Anne says Mark’s communication at a personal level is “catastrophic” and that he is still an introvert.She says the first time she heard Mark was involved in Mt. Gox was when a local reporter phoned her for comment. She had to look up Mt. Gox on Wikipedia and she does not appear to have any info other than what she could read in the media.‘Never dishonest’Anne says does not understand the allegations and that she would be shocked if Mark did anything dishonest.Anne Karpeles said:“I’ve never seen him do anything dishonest. He has sometimes trusted in people who were dishonest.”She added that she would not cover for Mark if there was dishonesty on his part. Anne also said she does not know anything about her son’s previous computer fraud convictions (allegedly admitted to in a 2006 blog post).Anne visited Mark in Japan last November and witnessed him working long hours, fending off cyber attacks, she said.Mark Karpeles
Original author: Nermin Hajdarbegovic
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