On Monday, Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced that he’s seeking the nomination for GOP presidential candidate at Liberty University. His stump speech included goals such as abolishing the IRS, securing the border, growing the economy, and protecting religious liberty. Cruz did not mention bitcoin or cryptocurrency, getting closest with “Imagine innovation thriving on the Internet … [Read more…]
Billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Galactic airlines was the first to accept bitcoins for space flight, recently described bitcoin as “the pioneer of a global currency” in an interview in the April issue of Delta’s SKY Magazine. Branson clearly believes in bitcoin. Not only is he accepting it, but he’s invested in it as well. But his … [Read more…]
Oversexed and underbanked? Chase Bank recently informed hundreds of porn performers that the bank will close their accounts by mid-May. Apparently Chase has a history of discriminating against sex workers and the adult industry. When banks pulled the same thing on Washington and Colorado’s state-legal marijuana dispensaries, they quickly moved to bitcoin. Banks claimed to be concerned that though the … [Read more…]
Lawyers for the two men recently arrested in Miami for engaging in “too-large” bitcoin transactions are claiming that the men’s actions were legal because state law covers only money issued by the US or another country. Many in the bitcoin community are hopeful that this argument is persuasive, seeing money laundering laws as an attempt to regulate thoughtcrime … [Read more…]
I wasn’t sure I’d make it to Berlin for ESFLC. Certainly not on time. As I posted to Facebook, it began on Monday when I woke up at 11 am because my alarm didn’t go off. I arrived at work two hours late. Then my boss reminds me that my flight to Berlin is today, … [Read more…]
The article is below. But here’s a bit of backstory first. I guess it was the week before last, I wanted to write a response to the ThinkProgress bitcoin privilege article. While pondering the matter in my head, I tweeted The worst thing is there’s actually a case to be made. But this is extraordinarily … [Read more…]
Competing cryptocurrencies have been in the news lately. This VICE Motherboard roundup is a good list of some of bitcoin’s most promising challengers. But it makes a comparison which reveals a view often expressed but is probably misguided about the nature of cryptocurrency competition. “Is there room for more than one sheriff in town?” writer Alec Liu … [Read more…]
I sat down with Nena Bartlett, Director of the Ladies of Liberty Alliance, to talk about liberty and bitcoin! They just started taking bitcoin donations. (And I do too) 1FXPe7rStkCkn6juPnrmy96FH3KXJVbnfx
BitInstant CEO Charlie Shrem, along with alleged co-conspirator Robert Faiella, was arrested by federal authorities last week for allegedly laundering more than $1 million worth of bitcoins. This is a tiny amount compared to the largest drug-and-terrorism money laundering case ever. Yet when British bank HSBC was found guilty in 2012 of laundering billions, the firm paid a fine of $1.9 billion. Authories made … [Read more…]
Last week TechCrunch delved into bitcoin’s image problem. Having followed bitcoin for the past year or so, I expected a substantive critique of bitcoin’s legitimate branding… let’s call them opportunities. Instead I got a poorly researched bit of toothless invective. Here are the piece’s biggest errors. Take the Winklevii, white knights in the bitcoin army, who … [Read more…]