In 2016, All Russian Bitcoiners Could Become Terrorists

After bitcoin, it is the deepweb which is now in the iron sights of the governments. Close to the heels of Russia trying everything in its capacity to make bitcoin illegal in the country, the French Minister for Interior Affairs is not targeting the darknet. Freedom of choice and free speech have become rare commodities these days and even in those small pockets where one can find it is being targeted by the governments across the world. Be it the United States government passing laws that conveniently erases the right to privacy from the constitutional rights of the citizens or the....

Klimenko went even one step further, and openly referred to the Bitcoin legislation in other countries as “figments of imagination”. In fact, according to him, Bitcoin is nothing more than an Internet joke, and even a virus that needs to be abolished sooner rather than later. Russian government officials want to exert complete control over the Internet in the country, Although that will be quite the challenge, there are plans in motion to make the usage of currencies not issued by the central bank punishable by law, and the Russian watchdog has blocked access to various Bitcoin sites in....

With only two weeks left in 2016, bitcoin seems in a rush to “catch up.” For the longest time, analysts have predicted that bitcoin would reach $800 by the end of the year, and for the last few days, it seems like that prediction could become a reality. Currently trading at around $787, bitcoin is just $13 away from reaching such a stellar point. But not everyone is celebrating. The U.S. government is still employing the idea that bitcoin is the most popular currency amongst criminals and terrorists, who likely use digital currency to fund their evil deeds. Bitcoin-related crime is....

According to Russian news sources, over US$25.7m has been stolen from Russian banks. This has nothing to do with yet another Swift network breach, though. A hacker collective is involved in the creation and distribution of malware, used to steal money from Russian bank accounts. Earlier today, Russian law enforcement officials have arrested fourteen people of an undisclosed hacker collective. All of these people are suspected of being involved in the usage of malware to steal funds from Russia bank accounts. Preliminary results indicate more than US$25.7m has been taken. The Russian....

The European Council of the EU has set forth guidelines in which it will seek to regulate virtual currencies and curb terrorist funding opportunities. In light of several high terror attacks within the EU in 2015, many regulators and citizens called for tighter surveillance and anti-terrorism operations. Calls for tighter control over virtual currencies after reports were released when it was suggested that some terrorists might have benefited from using Bitcoin to fund their activities. While such claims that terrorists have a unique advantage in using Bitcoin, the European Council is....