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This Week in Cryptocurrency: March 8, 2019

This week in cryptocurrency: march 8, 2019

This Week in Cryptocurrency: March 8, 2019

This week in cryptocurrency: march 8, 2019

A Little Bit Higher Now

A little bit higher now. And a little bit higher now. The crypto market continued to show consistent growth this week, gaining over $2.5B in the overall market cap. Led by Litecoin (18.63%), Binance Coin (27.50%), and BAT (18.03%), the market grew a healthy two percent over the week. As for the top three coins:

Cryptocurrency Market Stats (3/8/19)

bitcoin won the week with a 1.43% price increase. It continues to creep closer to the $4,000 mark.

Ethereum hardly moved, growing only 0.36%. The price remains just shy of $140.

XRP experienced a slight pullback of 2.57% inching toward $0.30.

Domestic cryptocurrency news

Bye-bye, Visa. Hello, bitcoin: Last week, Kroger, a prominent U.S. grocery store chain announced a store-wide ban on Visa payments starting in April. The move comes in response to Visa’s exorbitant processing fees, which are apparently making it difficult for the chain to maintain low prices for customers.

bitcoin advocates were, of course, quick to swoop in. Anthony “Virus is spreading”Pompliano put in a request on Twitter for any followers to put him in contact with the Kroger executive team. And, Satoshi be damned, it actually worked. Pompliano followed up this week, informing the Twitter masses that he spoke with the Kroger digital team, and things look to be progressing. bitcoin Lightning Network payments could be coming to a grocery store near you.

Denver to Try Out Blockchain-Based Voting: The mile-high municipal is planning to pilot a mobile voting app for its election in May. They’re making the blockchain-based app available to active-duty military and their eligible dependents as well as any overseas voters. Moving the absentee voting process to a mobile app improves on the tedious process of having to print out and scan all the required documentation. And overall, it should help to increase voter turnout.

The progressive voting effort is in partnership with Tusk Philanthropies, an organization on a mission to “advance mobile voting and anti-hunger programs around the country.”

People Saying Things

Dorsey, More Like Hoardsey: bitcoin fanboy and Twitter/Square CEO Jack Dorsey is ensuring he’s on the right side of history when bitcoin becomes mainstream. This week, on the Tales from the Crypt podcast, Dorsey revealed that recently he’s been gobbling up $10,000 worth of crypto each week, the maximum amount via Cash App.

Whats new at coincentral

IoTeX Founder Raullen Chai on the Internet of Things (IoT) and Privacy: We spoke with the team making sure your smart fridge won’t extort you for bitcoin someday.

The Argentinean Crypto Market Defies Crypto Winter: You could either place cause on the hemispheres or the questionable banking sector, but the Argentinean crypto winter is hot.

Social Media Giants Facebook and Telegram to Launch Own Digital Currencies: Because you should obviously trust your financial livelihood to the company that’s soo ethical with personal data.

Over 150k Bitcoins Accumulated by bitcoin Whales in 60 Days: Nom, nom, nom. Looks like the whales are finally starting to eat their lunch.

bitcoin Isn’t Dying, It’s Just Hibernating: bitcoin is dead!” We’ve heard a million times. Here’s why that’s clearly not the case.

What Is the Pastel Network (PSL)? | A Guide to the Digital Art Blockchain: We break down how this blockchain platform is making digital art provably rare and absolutely tradeable.

Cryptocurrency news from around the world

And, Behind Quadriga Door Number Three…: Nothing, apparently. Bloomberg reports that five of the six cold wallet addresses that Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX claims to have held the majority of users’ funds have been empty since April last year. To recap, Quadriga’s CEO, Gerald Cotton, died abruptly this year, allegedly taking the passwords to the majority of the exchange’s cold wallets with him.

Now, Ernst and Young is auditing the exchange in an attempt to find the hundreds of millions of dollars of user funds. So far, they haven’t had any luck. Their next line of attack is through Amazon Web Services (AWS). They’re looking for the court grant to order Amazon to give over details of the platform’s data. Because the account is in Cotton’s name, Amazon is unable (or unwilling) to hand it over without a court’s direction.

If Mining Crypto Is Cool, Consider Me Myles Davis: The verdict’s out. Colleges campuses are officially the second coolest place to mine cryptocurrency, according to a recent Cisco study. The birthplace of beer pong and keg stands came in second only to energy/utility plants. Twenty-two percent of all cryptocurrency mining activities occur on university grounds, likely due to the free electricity provided by the school.

Top crypto mining verticals

Top Crypto Mining Verticals  (Source: Cisco)

Other than students, though, Cisco threat researcher Austin McBribe believes that hackers have also been infecting campus computers with mining malware, AKA cryptojacking. He notes, “If you don’t have to pay for those costs, then you are in a really good spot for making money on the university’s dime.”

The post This Week in Cryptocurrency: March 8, 2019 appeared first on CoinCentral.

source: https://coincentral.com/this-week-in-cryptocurrency-march-8-2019/

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Published at Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:18:40 +0000

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Russian National Arrested in Greece with Ties to Money Laundering, BTC-e, Mt. Gox Theft

Alexander Vinnik, 38, has been arrested in Greece on a U.S. warrant. While he is suspected of running one of the largest online money laundering operations, additional reports are emerging naming him as the mastermind behind the Mt. Gox heist that sent bitcoin spiraling out of control in 2013.


The Man Behind the BTC-e Exchange

For almost seven years, BTC-e has operated as one of the oldest digital currency exchanges in the world. During that entire time, the people behind the company have been completely anonymous.

Until today.

The alleged mastermind behind a multi-billion dollar money laundering scheme and, according to sources close to the exchange, a key person behind BTC-e has been unmasked as Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national who was arrested today in Greece. Vinnik is wanted in the United States on suspicion of money laundering at least $4 billion USD through bitcoin transactions.

Vinnik is currently being held in custody by Greek authorities pending a U.S. extradition request.

Greek police have stated:

An internationally sought ‘mastermind’ of a crime organization has been arrested. Since 2011 the 38-year-old has been running a criminal organization which administers one of the most important websites of electronic crime in the world.

With Vinnik’s extradition, the U.S. investigation will go into full swing. This is the latest in a series of U.S. efforts to curb cybercrime worldwide. Last week, a multi-national coordinated raid involving the U.S. and several other countries resulted in the takedown of the Darknet site known as Alphabay.

BTC-e have long been known for their lax regulations user identity verification and their uncooperative nature when it comes to anti-money laundering organizations. Perhaps coincidentally, the exchange has conspicuously been offline since last Thursday, with the website currently citing “unscheduled maintenance” as the cause of the interruption of service.

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A feed of tweets from the BTC-e is on the site as well to keep users informed.

Ties to the Mt. Gox bitcoin Hack

Vinnik was also found to be in control of a sizable number of Bitcoins that could possibly be traced back to the hack of the Mt. Gox exchange back in 2013. A group of security experts known as WizSec published a blog post earlier today detailing how the hack took place. The group maintains that Vinnik has been their prime suspect in their years-long investigation into the bitcoin theft and that the same conclusions about his involvement were made independently by other teams working to uncover what really happened.

WizSec explains:

In September 2011, the MtGox hot wallet private keys were stolen, in a case of a simple copied wallet.dat file. This gave the hacker access to a sizable number of bitcoins immediately, but also were able to spend the incoming trickle of bitcoins deposited to any of the addresses contained. […] By mid-2013 when the funds spendable from the compromised keys had slowed to a near halt, the thief had taken out about 630,000 BTC from MtGox.

Mt. Gox Where is Our Money

Not only can the Mt. Gox coins be traced to Vinnik, but other less known heists can be traced to him as well.

According to WizSec:

Coins stolen from Bitcoinica, Bitfloor and several other thefts from back in 2011 and 2012 were all laundered through the same wallets.

Vinnik has denied all accusations against him in a Greek court of law. More information on this story will surely be released in the coming days, so make sure to stay tuned.

Do you think that Vinnik will be extradited to the States? Or will other countries try and lay their claim to prosecute? Let us know in the comments below, and make sure to check back at Bitcoinist.com for more information on this story as it unfolds.


Images courtesy of Japan Times, Reuters/Alexandros Avramidis, Shutterstock

The post Russian National Arrested in Greece with Ties to Money Laundering, BTC-e, Mt. Gox Theft appeared first on Bitcoinist.com.