'Sin’ Activities No Longer Drive Bitcoin Economy, Researchers Find
A soon-to-be-released study centers on evidence that bitcoin’s market has matured to a point where commerce is no longer driven by illicit activities. Drafted by researchers from the central bank of Germany, University College London and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the paper argues that bitcoin has passed through three distinct phases of growth as a distributed payment system, the most recent and current of which they assert is driven by "legitimate payments, commerce and services". As such, the study sheds light on a key question that the bitcoin network continues to....
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Sina.com.cn, China's fourth most-popular web portal, yesterday launched Sina Bitcoin Market information pages with charts, statistics and real-time market quotes. Sina announced the launch by saying the service was created to assist investors in understanding and discussing bitcoin market trends and relevant market knowledge. It features data gathered from Mt. Gox (USD-BTC), BTC China (CNY-BTC), and 11 more of the largest bitcoin trading platforms. It said the site aimed to be easy to use and understand, and welcomed user suggestions. Initial reports said the response from users was mainly....
Just because the authorities in China are cracking down on bitcoin in China doesn't mean the Chinese population isn't interested in it anymore. Sina.com.cn - China's 4th most-popular web portal - has launched pages dedicated to bitcoin, complete with news, real-time price quotes at multiple exchanges (BTC China, Mt. Gox, OKCoin, etc), and more. Sina launched the pages in hopes of educating investors and just generally keeping them, along with others, in the know. Sometimes referred to as the "Yahoo! of China", the pages will undoubtedly be a tool of education with its widespread reach,....
Researchers have recently published a paper called “The Evolution of the Bitcoin Economy: Extracting and Analyzing the Network of Payment Relationships,” which explains how the Bitcoin protocol is maturing. The Bitcoin Economy Has Grown Up. In partnership with Deutsche Bundesbank, the University of Wisconsin, and the UCL Centre for Blockchain....
Original Chinese article here. English article by Caixin. Caixin is a trusted Chinese financial news source. Ties to the 3/21/14 Sina.com FUD incident. In contrast to the 3/21/14 incident mentioned by OKCoin, this news was broken by Caixin not Sina. More importantly, the original article has not yet been rescinded. In the original rescinded Sina article that turned out not to be true, it was claimed that on 3/18/14 a document was released that would have banned Bitcoin transactions in China by 4/15/14. The PBOC took to Weibo to announce that: "Regarding the PBOC statement issued on 3/18....
Security researchers have just discovered "one of the most advanced pieces of malware ever created." Symantec researchers recently published their findings on a Trojan they named "Regin." Regin has been in use since at least 2008 and has only now been discovered. Researchers state the tool is "a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen. It's been cleverly designed to spy on computer systems around the world while leaving hardly a trace behind. The software's authors have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks." Regin uses multiple....