Drugs, Assassinations And Now: College Tuition - The Bitcoin Adoption Spreads
While the last few days' hearings have focused on the nefarious aspects of the crypto-currency, it would appear that the adoption of Bitcoin is growing in the broad market place. While drugs, assassinations, and money-laundering are the headline-grabbing reasons why this unregulated asset is under the US (and European) government's eye, from ATMs, Subway (sandwich shops), and online retailers, the appeal is growing... and now, as AP reports,Cyprus' largest university will start accepting the digital currency Bitcoin as an alternative way to pay tuition fees.
Via AP,
Cyprus' biggest private university says it will start accepting the digital currency Bitcoin as an alternative way to pay tuition fees.University of Nicosia's Chief Financial Officer Christos Vlachos says the move will help foreign students in countries where traditional banking transactions are either difficult or costly to pay fees for programs such as online degrees.The university claims it is the first in the world to take Bitcoin payments.Vlachos told The Asssociated Press on Thursday that the university is also offering a new Masters' degree in digital currency, a field he says is the monetary equivalent of the Internet in its infancy.He said the Cypriot government should set up a regulatory framework to attract digital currency trading companies and boost the bailed-out country's foundering economy.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2013
Wolf Richter: Use Bitcoin As A Currency, Get Wiped Out (The Government Likes It That Way)
By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Cross posted from Testosterone Pit.
Four years after its creation, folks are still arguing over what bitcoin is: “investment opportunity of the millennium,” “part of a societal revolution,” a security, a currency, a casino token? Whatever. But US regulators now have strategy of killing it as a currency.
The Senate is trying to wrap its brains around bitcoin. A sight to behold. Four years after its creation, folks are still arguing over what it is. For some, bitcoins aren’t even casino tokens (no fancy tokens). These non-physical entities traded on electronic exchanges “would likely be securities,” SEC Chairman Mary Jo White clarified in her letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that is now investigating the matter. And as securities, they would be “subject to our regulation.” So a security, not a currency.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke attempted to dodge the issue, but didn’t quite make it when he wrote to the committee that the Fed “generally monitors developments in virtual currencies” – so it’s a currency, not a security? He conceded even that virtual currencies “may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure, and more efficient payment system.”
Some sort of “private money” is what the German Ministry of Finance called it in August. Under German law, it could be used to settle multilateral transactions. Creating bitcoins (“mining”) was therefore “private money creation.” This emerged as an answer to MP Frank Schäffler’s query. Any gains from selling bitcoins after one year would be treated as capital gains for tax purposes. So it’s a security, in addition to private money? German banking supervisor Bafin also struggled with it, and finally considered it the equivalent to a foreign currency.
A miffed commenter on a Bloomberg article called it “the investment opportunity of the millennium” and “part of a societal revolution.” That would be the other end of the spectrum.
The Senate hearing on Monday was the culmination of a three-month investigation into virtual currencies, said committee chairman Sen. Tom Carper (D., Del.). “Virtual currencies, perhaps most notably bitcoin, have captured the imagination of some, struck fear among others, and confused the heck out of the rest of us, including me.” He was worried that they could facilitate the sale of “weapons, child pornography, and even murder-for-hire services.”
So you’d expect some saber-rattling by the government officials who’d been asked to testify. But instead, it practically turned into a love fest.
Officials from the Secret Service, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Justice Department bragged to the committee about successful investigations of crimes where bitcoin or other virtual currencies were used, including the busts of Silk Road, eGold, and Liberty Reserve. They were confident that they knew how to tamp down on criminal use of virtual currencies. No one expressed outright alarm about the new world of bitcoin.
Since every transaction of every bitcoin is forever recorded and part of the system, Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s criminal division, pointed out that “cash is still probably the best medium for laundering money.” And she admitted that “many virtual currency systems offer legitimate financial services and have the potential to promote more efficient global commerce.”
At the word legitimate, bitcoin soared. And I mean, SOARED.
Even if they don’t agree on what bitcoin is, regulators clearly don’t want to go through the hassles of banning it or policing it. So if it’s a “security” where in the end a lot of people will lose a lot of money, so be it. That happens every day with securities.
Yet they are fretting about transactions. It seems they would like to prevent bitcoin from competing as a currency with the dollar. But they don’t want to get their hands dirty. And they found out how to do that. It’s so simple, it’s beautiful: Encourage bitcoin to become so phenomenally volatile with such mindboggling jumps and brutal crashes that no one can afford to use it as a currency to buy or sell anything, licit or illicit.
Taking on the dizzying risks of getting crushed by price swings can be fun for speculators, but they would be debilitating for buyers or sellers. So you want to buy a house valued at $500,000 and pay in bitcoins. You sign the contract on September 19, when bitcoins change hands at $134 each. So the contract specifies that you have to pay 3,731 BTC at closing. Closing was last night, after bitcoin had soared to $900. The transaction price of the house, in dollar terms, would then be $3.36 million. You’d get crushed by a $2.86 million loss on a $500,000 house. You’d never, ever do that again.
Another day, the price could swing the other way, and then it would be the seller’s turn to get crushed. That’s the idea. If regulators can keep it that way, while allowing speculators to play with it and have fun with it and drive the price up and down maniacally, bitcoin will die as a currency that can be used to buy or sell anything.
Turns out, all this drama can actually happen in time-lapse. Not in weeks, but in hours. Yesterday around midnight, after an already crazy run-up, bitcoin traded for $575. Then, triggered by the word “legitimate” or some other word, or something in the water, it spiked to $900 for the briefest moment at around 5 p.m., only to crash to $502 by around 4:45 a.m. today. It since jumped to $745, and now, as I’m writing this, re-crashed to $640 $599 $489. You can’t do business with a “currency” like that. You can only have fun with it or lose your shirt. And the Fed, the SEC, and a myriad of other regulators can pat each other, or themselves, on the back.
Far more revealing than Yellen’s congressional testimony were two very important papers by the two most senior Federal Reserve staff economists. The thinking that went into them must have been broadly approved by both Bernanke and Yellen. Read…. Thoughts from the Frontline: Unintended Consequences of ZIRP
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-19/guest-post-future-bitcoin-asia
Guest Post: The Future Of Bitcoin Is In Asia...
Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,
Senator Tom Carper (Delaware) is confused about Bitcoin.
As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, this is how Carper framed his opening remarks yesterday at a hearing about digital currencies– with complete, incoherent confusion.
Carper’s hearing went on for several hours as one witness after another testified about the potential evils of digital currencies. They hailed from agencies and organizations like:
- The Homeland Security committee
- Criminal Division of the US Attorney General’s Office
- US Secret Service Criminal Investigative Division
- The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
- The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children
Based on the way they stacked the witness list, the message they’re sending is clear: digital currencies like Bitoin equate to crime, terrorism, and child exploitation.
But the height of absurdity in yesterday’s hearing probably came during the testimony from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), in which the agency’s chief cited the BENEFITS of digital currencies, including:
- anonymity
- simple, easy to navigate
- lower fees than the conventional financial system
- globally accessible
- can be used as both a store of value and medium of exchange
- security
etc.
Yet in listing all of these benefits, FinCEN’s chief was actually trying to make a case AGAINST Bitcoin! In her mind, only criminal terrorists want low-fee, secure, globally accessible money.
All of these politicians and bureaucrats can’t wait to get their arms around digital currency to regulate the hell out of it. They don’t understand it… therefore they think it’s dangerous.
Even the World Bank president (a US government-appointed stooge) weighed in on digital currencies. It’s obvious they’re all afraid.
And their entire argument begins with the deeply flawed premise that financial privacy is somehow wrong, immoral, and nefarious.
There’s no sense trying to convince them otherwise. Government’s mission is to obstruct… particularly a government in decline.
So we can expect more hearings, more regulation, more disclosures. At least, in the Land of the Free.
Over here on the other side of the world, though, they’re not afraid of Bitcoin.
Places like Hong Kong and Singapore understand that they have a role to play as preeminent international financial centers in becoming financial hubs for digital currencies.
If the US wants to shoot itself in the foot (again) and shut itself out of the market, so be it. But Asia is embracing its potential role in the marketplace, complete with all the risks and rewards.
It wasn’t but a few weeks ago that a Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange ran off with a few million dollars of customer money. But that hasn’t cooled demand in the region… nor has it sparked a wave of debilitating regulations to clamp down on digital currencies.
What this ultimately means is that all the new businesses and intellectual capital associated with digital currencies will flock to Asia… just in the same way that all the cutting edge precious metals firms are now basing themselves in Singapore.
The US government is sharpening its steak knives in anticipation of a great digital currency roast. But they’ll find out very soon that Bitcoin has left the building… and moved on to greener, safer pastures in Asia.
This is good news, especially for second generation digital currencies and related firms like litecoin, ripple, and ven.
view larger chart
MT Gox chart - 11/20/13 ....
Fed giving a heads up something coming down the line ?
Quote Of The Day: Bill Dudley's Schrodinger Forecast
- Bank of New York
- Bill Dudley
- Congressional Budget Office
- Consumer Credit
- Federal Reserve
- Federal Reserve Bank
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York
- Gross Domestic Product
- Housing Market
- Market Conditions
- New York City
- New York Fed
- Output Gap
- Personal Consumption
- Reality
- Recession
- recovery
- Student Loans
- Unemployment
- William Dudley
Somehow, Fed head Bill Dudley has managed to encompass the entire "we must keep the foot to the floor" premise of the Fed in one mind-bending sentence:
- *DUDLEY SEES `POSSIBILITY OF SOME UNFORESEEN SHOCK'
So - based on an "unforeseen" shock - which he "sees", and while there are "nascent signs the economy may be doing better", the Fed should remain as exceptionally easy just in case... (asteroid? alien invasion? West Coast quake?)
However, for all those "hopers", clinging to Dudley's confident projections, while:
- *DUDLEY SAYS `GROWTH IN 2013 HAS BEEN DISAPPOINTING'
He remains hopeful:
- *DUDLEY SEES `NASCENT SIGNS' ECONOMY `MAY BE DOING BETTER'
- *DUDLEY `MORE HOPEFUL' ECONOMY REBOUNDING AS FISCAL DRAG WANES
“The weakness of real GDP growth in the first quarter probably will prove temporary,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said. “There are many reasons to believe conditions are in place for stronger growth in the coming months in the nation and the region,” he said.
Finally, the following line caught our eye: "Key measures of household leverage have declined and are now near the lowest levels they have been in well over a decade".
Uh, is Bill "edible iPads" Dudley looking at the following chart showing total consumer credit, including car and student loans, when he makes that assessment?
And investors really believe these guys have a clue?
Full Speech:
...
Regional Economic Conditions
Starting with the area’s economy, one of the greatest challenges in the City over the past year has been the massive disruption and destruction caused by Superstorm Sandy. While areas of the New York City metropolitan region were hard hit by the storm, the devastation was particularly severe along the waterfronts of Queens—and in particular in Far Rockaway. We saw and heard about the devastation of the storm first-hand from many of those affected, through a series of support clinics that we held in the storm’s immediate aftermath, as well as from many of our own employees who lived in some of the hardest hit areas.
The good news is that a little more than one-year later there has been a significant rebound in employment and economic activity across the five boroughs. New York City has continued to see pretty solid job creation through this past summer, and, in stark contrast with past economic expansions, this is happening without any direct contribution from the securities industry—or, more colloquially, Wall Street. So far this year, the city’s job gains have been broad-based, led by strong growth in industries such as education and health, advertising, computer services, leisure and hospitality, wholesale and retail trade, and, especially, construction.
Of course, while it is reassuring that most of the city has bounced back strongly from this historic natural disaster, it is important to remember that the hardest hit communities, and the residents and businesses there, who lost so much, are still struggling to recover. Many of those communities are right here in Queens: the whole Rockaway peninsula—from Breezy Point to Arverne—was completely flooded, as were neighborhoods like Howard Beach, Springfield Gardens, Lindenwood, and even parts of Flushing, Long Island City, Astoria and Maspeth. Still, Queens as a whole showed strong resilience—employment bounced back from Sandy fairly quickly, and as of early 2013 it had already surpassed its pre-Sandy level.
While many residents here commute to work in other boroughs, primarily Manhattan, Queens has a formidable industrial base of its own. Jobs are prevalent in industries ranging from medical care to construction, not to mention printing and a number of other manufacturing industries that benefit from being in a large population center. But Queens’ most concentrated industry is transportation—specifically air transportation which employs about 27,000 workers, about five percent of Queens’ jobs.
Education is another key industry in Queens and the city as a whole. And it is not just a job creator. The investment in human capital that education entails makes it a socially desirable activity. There is considerable value from a college education both to the person that has been educated and to society as a whole. The Great Recession and sluggish recovery that has followed has made it difficult for people to find jobs, and I’m sure you may be wondering about whether going to college will turn out to be a good investment, especially if faced with the burden of student debt, something we track quite closely.
Let me reassure you, the benefits of a college degree remain significant. Research we have undertaken at the New York Fed shows that young people with a college degree are more likely to have a job and they tend to earn considerably higher wages than those without degrees—and this is true even for those who may be underemployed initially when they first enter the labor market after graduation. Although the labor market has been challenging for college graduates in recent years, I am confident that most will find work and transition into higher-skilled jobs as they gain experience and as the labor market improves.
Now, I’d like to turn my attention to recent developments in the national economy.
National Economic Conditions
Let me begin by taking stock of where we are at the moment. Then I will address my expectations for the performance of the economy in 2014 and 2015.
Since the end of what is now called the Great Recession in mid-2009, the U.S. economy has experienced 17 consecutive calendar quarters of positive growth of real GDP. However, the compound annual rate of growth over that period has only been around 2 ¼ percent, close to prevailing estimates of the economy’s potential growth rate. Thus, we have made limited progress in closing the substantial output gap that was created during the recession.
A similar conclusion is drawn from an assessment of labor market conditions.Although the unemployment rate has declined by about 2 ¾ percentage points since peaking at 10 percent in October of 2009, a significant portion of that decline reflects the substantial decline of the labor force participation rate over that period. It should also be noted that since the previous business cycle peak at the end of 2007, the decline of the labor force participation rate has been more than accounted for by a decline in participation of people in the prime working age of 25 to 54.
The inflation data are also consistent with this overall picture of an economy operating well below its full potential. Total inflation, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) deflator, has been quite volatile in recent years due to sharp fluctuations in energy prices. Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy components and thereby may be a better guide as to underlying inflation, slowed from around 2 percent in early 2012 to just above 1 percent in mid-2013. In recent months it has shown signs of stabilizing, but remains well below the FOMC’s expressed goal of 2 percent for total inflation.Fortunately, inflation expectations remain relatively stable at levels somewhat above the current inflation rate. This stability should help prevent an undesirable further drop in inflation relative to our 2 percent objective.
That said, there are some nascent signs that the economy may be doing better. For example, based on the first estimate, which is subject to revision, real (gross domestic product) GDP increased at a 2.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter of 2013, above the trend of the past four years. And the most recent payroll employment report showed a pickup in the monthly pace of job gains. The 3-month moving average rose back above a 200,000 pace after slowing to about 150,000 as of July of this year. I hope that this marks a turning point for the economy.
But before we rush to this conclusion a few more cautionary comments are appropriate. With respect to GDP growth, it turns out that inventory investment contributed ¾ of a percentage point to that overall growth rate. Thus, because this impetus from inventories will likely reverse this quarter, the real GDP growth rate is likely to slow to around a 2 percent annual rate or a bit less in the fourth quarter. With respect to payroll employment, we have seen such bursts in payroll growth before over the past few years and have been disappointed when the pickups proved temporary and did not lead to a rise in the overall growth rate.
But, I have to admit that I am getting more hopeful. Not only do we have some better data in hand, but also the fiscal drag, which has been holding the economy back, is likely to abate considerably over the next few years at the same time that the fundamental underpinnings of the economy are improving.
The first thing to note is that federal fiscal policy in 2013 has been unusually contractionary. At the beginning of the year the payroll tax cut expired while tax rates on higher income households were raised, a series of taxes associated with the Affordable Care Act took effect, and spending was reduced due to the sequester and the gradual winding down of foreign military operations. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cyclically-adjusted or full-employment budget balance increased by roughly 1 ¾ percentage points of GDP in fiscal year 2013. Over the past 50 years there have been only two other episodes of fiscal contraction of this order of magnitude, and both of those occurred when the unemployment rate was substantially lower than it has been of late. Under current law, the amount of federal fiscal restraint will decline in 2014 and then decline further in 2015. At the same time, the sustained contraction in spending and employment by state and local governments appears to be over.
The fact that the U.S. economy has continued to grow at around a 2 percent pace in 2013 despite this quite intense fiscal restraint provides evidence to the second key point, which is that the private sector of the economy has largely completed its healing process and is now poised to ramp up its level of activity. Key measures of household leverage have declined and are now near the lowest levels they have been in well over a decade. Household net worth, expressed as a percent of disposable income, has increased back to its average of the previous decade, reflecting rising equity and home prices and declining debt. Recently, banks have eased credit standards somewhat after a prolonged period of tightness. As a result, we are now experiencing a fairly typical cyclical recovery of consumer spending on durable goods. For example, sales of light-weight motor vehicles have increased steadily over the past four years, reaching an annual rate of 15.7 million in the third quarter of 2013, though sales in September and October have been somewhat below that average.
Similarly, after five years in which housing production was well below what is consistent with underlying demographic trends and the replacement demand for houses, it now appears that we have worked off the excess supply of housing built up during the boom years of the last decade. Housing market activity has begun to recover, and a widely followed national home price index is up 12 percent over the 12 months ending in September.1 Anecdotal reports suggest that this higher-than-expected increase in home prices is due to a relatively low number of homes for sale. Due to this shortness of supply, there is reason to expect increases in starts going forward.
Yet another bright spot on the horizon is the fact that growth prospects among our major trading partners have improved following a few years of lackluster performance which induced a sharp slowing of growth of U.S. exports. In particular, the euro area appears to have emerged from a protracted recession and is experiencing modest but positive growth.
To summarize, while growth in 2013 has been disappointing, I believe a good case can be made that the pace of growth will pick up some in 2014 and then somewhat more in 2015. The private sector of the economy should continue to heal, while the amount of fiscal drag should subside. Despite near-term concerns, growth prospects among our major trading partners will improve further next year. This combination of events is likely to create an environment in which business investment spending will strengthen. As growth picks up, I expect to see more substantial improvement in labor market conditions and a gradual updrift in inflation back towards the FOMC’s target rate.
However, the notion that the economy will grow more swiftly remains a forecast rather than a reality at this point. As is always the case, there is substantial uncertainty surrounding this forecast. Moreover, there is always the possibility of some unforeseen shock. Thus, we will continue to monitor U.S. and global economic conditions very carefully and will adjust our views on the likely path for growth, inflation and the unemployment rate accordingly.
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-540-2013-11
( Everyone knew this was a possibility , right ? )
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-just-crashed-by-over-30-2013-11
( Check the link to the article from FT's Isabella Kaminska .... such manipulation could be a basis for government action.....)
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-540-2013-11
( Everyone knew this was a possibility , right ? )
Bitcoin Just Crashed For The Fourth Or Fifth Time Today
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-just-crashed-by-over-30-2013-11
( Check the link to the article from FT's Isabella Kaminska .... such manipulation could be a basis for government action.....)
BITCOIN JUST CRASHED BY OVER 30%
Bitcoin momentarily reached $900.
Just as soon, it fell back to $583.
Now it is at $650.
Bitcoin got two major lifts. First, Ben Bernanke submitted a letter to the Senate saying digital currencies like Bitcoin "may hold major promise."
Then this afternoon, the Senate held its first hearing on the state of digital currencies and whether they pose a threat to consumers. The answer was basically "no," and Bitcoin traders regarded the prospect that it could become more mainstream as bullish.
Finally, the FT's Izabella Kaminska suggested something slightly more bizarre may be afoot: that a cartel of souped-up Bitcoin miners had taken control of creating new Bitcoins, which are produced by computers solving complex math equations, and that more "conventional" miners need the price to move higher to justify the cost of their investment.
Just 36 hours ago, Bitcoin was at $500. This is getting crazy.
Clark Moody
BitCoin mania.....almost 800 as this is being posted , about a double in ten days ?
( Update - see article below... )
Bitcoin Trades Over $1000 On BTC China Exchange And Crashes 30% ... Then Rebounds
Update: following the 30% drop to under $600 in seconds, BTC promptly rebounded to $800 in a few more seconds, as the entire BTC market is now just an algo arena.
* * *
Putting to rest fears that today's Senatorial hearing on digital currencies would crater Bitcoin (if in the immediate term), moments ago the digital currency priced in USD on the Mt Gox exchange, rose to yet another unpredecented price, hitting $850 moments ago, or about 50% higher than where it was this morning.
But you ain't seen nothing yet.
Because at the same time, the Renminbi-denominated price of Bitcoin on BTC China, has the digital currency at 6780CNY. At a USDCNY exchange rate of 6.09, this means a price over $1100 per Bitcoin.
And as the two day chart shows, somehow while Bitcoin rose 50% in 2 days, it has doubled on the Chinese exchange.
Naturally, at this point we would suggest picking up the 20%+ free arb, however it is unclear how one can short the CNY priced leg of the transaction, or if for that matter, there is even an actual, liquid market in the currency.
And as if to prove BTC just heard us, as the final chart shows, taken literally moments before we were going to post this article, BitCoin touched $900 on Mt Gox... and promptly tanked to just under $600, entering a bear market in the span of seconds on what appears to be about 10,000 trades.
And a better chart of the tumble which sent BTC lower by 33% from $900 to $600 in seconds:
Bitcoin Crosses $700 As Senate Hearing Wraps
cspan
The price on the Mt. Gox exchange were at $700 and rising.
The hearing began with three law enforcement officials discussing their agencies' successful crackdowns on the currency.
However, there were no indications they were stepping up crackdowns or opening new regulatory fronts. They said current statutes were adequate for prosecuting criminals.
Presiding Sen. Tom Carper compared the current moment in digital currencies to the early days of the Internet, and Secret Service agent Edward Lowery made an indirect analogy to attitude towards credit cards during their '80s boom.
The Senate Committee On Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs session is entitled, "Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats, and Promises of Virtual Currencies."
We've previously discussed how the Feds basically know nothing about Bitcoin, so the hearing is more of a fact-finding forum.
But the combination of Bitcoin's rise in price and the seizure of massive illicit e-commerce site Silk Road, on which Bitcoin was the primary medium of exchange, has put it in the sights of regulators. (A site billing itself as the new version of Silk Road has already gone live.)
"Whether or not virtual currencies prove to be a boom or a bust, I think it’s clear that some folks just want a chance to try and play by the rules," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) said in his published opening remarks. "That’s difficult to do if the rules or proper authorities aren’t clear or if the future is uncertain. It’s also difficult if a large number of bad apples are allowed to spoil the bunch.”
We'll be updating this space with news from the hearing.
Of course, we'll also have our eye on prices.
Here's who will testify:
Sen. Carper's opening remarks were pretty boilerplate.
Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the head of the Treasury Department's financial crimes enforcement division, said $8 billion-worth of BItcoin transactions have already been processed.
U.S. Attorney Mythili Raman says Bitcoin's efficiency can be appealing to consumers, but that those same features make it equally appealing to criminals.
Raman is touting Justice's crackdowns on digital currencies.
Justice seized 170,000 Bitcoins when it took down Silk Road. She says she they are now working with Virtual Currencies Emerging Threats Working Group to spot illicit merchants.
Want to ensure virtual currencies do not become a haven for criminal activity.
As you can see from the witness list above, the Feds are testifying first, followed by Bitcoin industry folks, so all the scary stuff is getting fronted.
Now the Secret Service's Edward Lowery is speaking. "Digital currencies challenge" law enforcement authorities' ability to carry out mission.
Sen. Carper compares the current moment to the early days of the Internet, asks Feds whether it's a good corollary. Calvery says it's an apt comparison. "Innovation is a very important part of our economy," she says. Challenge is to have "balance" and "smart regulation."
Secret Service agent Lowery makes indirect comparison to early days of credit cards.
Current statutes appear to be adequate for charging criminals misusing digital currencies, first panel says.
Calvery compares Bitcoin to prepaid bank cards.
Raman: other agencies, foreign and domestic, have been invited to join Virtual Currencies Emerging Threats Working Group.
Calvery: we don't care whether Bitcoin is a currency or commodity; we are charged with targeting money laundering.
The first hearing wraps. Panel II begins at 4:30 pm.
The first speaker is the head of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, who spoke to the difficulties of tracking Bitcoin transactees.
Next is Bitcoin Foundation general counsel Patrick Murck, who talks about how much of the demand for digital currencies comes from consumers living in countries with weak banking sectors. He also points to California and Georgia as states that have most aggressively sought to make Bitcoin more mainstream.
Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle is up now, talking about how conducting transactions in 2013 is more expensive and cumbersome than it should be.
Finally, former journalist and George Mason professor Jerry Brito compares Bitcoin to 3-D manufacturing and drones' dual capacity for good and evil. Also notes that unlike Liberty Reserve, Bitcoin records all transactions, an obstacle for would-be criminals.
Murck talks about resistance Bitcoin businesses face from banks, basically saying they get a scarlet letter if they have the word Bitcoin anywhere in their documentation.
Murck: digital currencies remain a high-risk environment for most consumers.
The hearing ends. This was a huge step toward the mainstreaming of digital currencies like Bitcoin — and it seems likely Bitcoin will become the only game in town — and Bitcoin markets seem to view this as a bullish development.
more signs of a mania .....
The Great Rotation: From Bullion To Bitcoin
Well you buy what's working, right? Don't fight the Fed? Oh wait...
BTC just hit $670...
"Dark Web" Exposes $75,000 Bitcoin-Based Bounty For Bernanke's Assassination
As Silk Road emerged from the "dark-web", other sites have appeared offering services that are frowned upon by most. As Forbes reports, perhaps the most-disturbing is "The Assassination Market" run by a pseudnymous Kuwabatake Sanjuro. The site, remarkably, a crowdfunding service that lets anyone anonymously contribute bitcoins towards a bounty on the head of any government official–a kind of Kickstarter for political assassinations. As Forbes reports, NSA Director Alexander and President Obama have a BTC40 bounty (~$24,000) but the highest bounty - perhaps not entirely surprising - is BTC 124.14 (~$75,000) for none other than Ben Bernanke. Sanjuro's raison d'etre is chilling, "as a few politicians gets offed and they realize they’ve lost the war on privacy, the killings can stop and we can transition to a phase of peace, privacy and laissez-faire."
As Bitcoin becomes an increasingly popular form of digital cash, the cryptocurrency is being accepted in exchange for everything from socks to sushi to heroin. If one anarchist has his way, it’ll soon be used to buy murder, too....For now, the site’s rewards are small but not insignificant. In the four months that Assassination Market has been online, six targets have been submitted by users, and bounties have been collected ranging from ten bitcoins for the murder of NSA director Keith Alexander and 40 bitcoins for the assassination of President Barack Obama to 124.14 bitcoins–the largest current bounty on the site–targeting Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and public enemy number one for many of Bitcoin’s anti-banking-system users. At Bitcoin’s current rapidly rising exchanges rate, that’s nearly $75,000 for Bernanke’s would-be killer....Sanjuro’s grisly ambitions go beyond raising the funds to bankroll a few political killings. He believes that if Assassination Market can persist and gain enough users, it will eventually enable the assassinations of enough politicians that no one would dare to hold office. He says he intends Assassination Market to destroy “all governments, everywhere.”“I believe it will change the world for the better,” writes Sanjuro, who shares his handle with the nameless samurai protagonist in the Akira Kurosawa film “Yojimbo.” (He tells me he chose it in homage to creator of the online black market Silk Road, who called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts, as well Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.) ”Thanks to this system, a world without wars, dragnet panopticon-style surveillance, nuclear weapons, armies, repression, money manipulation, and limits to trade is firmly within our grasp for but a few bitcoins per person. I also believe that as soon as a few politicians gets offed and they realize they’ve lost the war on privacy, the killings can stop and we can transition to a phase of peace, privacy and laissez-faire.”...Like other so-called “dark web” sites, Assassination Market runs on the anonymity network Tor, which is designed to prevent anyone from identifying the site’s users or Sanjuro himself....As for technically proving that an assassin is responsible for a target’s death, Assassination Market asks its killers to create a text file with the date of the death ahead of time, and to use a cryptographic function known as a hash to convert it to a unique string of characters....“I am a crypto-anarchist,” Sanjuro concludes. “We have a bright future ahead of us.”
Of course - this will likely be another reason for TPTB to ban bitcoin...
The reporter contacted the Secret Service and the FBI to ask if they’re investigating Assassination Market, and both declined to comment.
Man with gun routine plays ou in Paris - will this be connected to Iran or Syria ?
Manhunt In Paris For "Terrorist" Gunman On The Loose
As reported earlier today, Paris was the latest city to succumb to a rogue shooter when a gunman shot a photographer at left-leaning French newspaper Liberation, following by a shooting near the headquarters of French bank SocGen.
The lone gunman is shown on the picture below.
How the Paris situation differs from numerous such incidents taking place recently in the US, however, is that so far the gunman has not been captured or otherwise "incapacitated." Furthermore, as was reported subsequently, the Paris prosecutors are now treating the shooting as a "terrorist" case. And now, as the WSJ reports, Paris in now gripped in a manhunt for the gunman who is currently on the loose.
From the WSJ:
A manhunt was under way in central Paris Monday for a lone gunman who police suspect of two separate shootings and a brief hostage taking, in a series of events that Paris prosecutors are treating as a terrorist case, a spokeswoman said.It was unclear what motivated the attacks—which sparked confusion across the French Capital—or what the possible thread was linking them, police said. The spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office didn't provide any additional details. Paris Prosecutor François Molins is scheduled to hold a news conference later Monday.In the first incident, a man opened fire Monday morning at the Paris headquarters of left-leaning newspaper Libération, leaving a 27-year old assistant photographer badly wounded. Shortly afterward, a gunman appeared outside the headquarters of French bank Société Générale SA in the business district of La Defense, a bank spokeswoman said. The man fired shots but there were no injuries or casualties at the bank.The assailant then fled the business district, taking one man hostage and forcing him to drive to the Champs Élysées in central Paris before liberating him, a police officer said. A police helicopter was circling the famous Paris thoroughfare as officials seek to identify and capture the man.Police are acting on the hypothesis that the same man is behind all events, police officials said. The police officer said the same bullets were used in both incidents on Monday morning. Witnesses said in both cases the shooter was wearing a dark coat, police said.Many businesses in the areas where the man was sighted were tightening security.
That said, the most important component of theNew Normal, confidence, has been preserved:
Laurent Nunez, chief of staff for the Paris police head, said officials had no insights on the gunman's motivations. He said police were conducting checks across Paris to try to capture him, including in the metro, the extensive underground transportation system that blankets the city."Very honestly, nobody has alerted to any sense of panic in the city," said Mr. Nunez.A spokeswoman for the RATP, which operates the metro, said traffic was moving normally. She said the company had not received any instructions from police to tighten security.
And some more confirmation that no matter what, Paris just refuses to panic:
A gunman next appeared in front of Société Générale's skyscraper headquarters, located in western Paris."The man looked very calm and determined," said Pierre-Albert Garcias, a community manager at the bank who witnessed the shooting. Mr. Garcias told French television all people present in the hallway immediately took shelter, fearing that the shooter would take aim at them, but that there were no scenes of widespread panic.
Truly admirable. Who would have though that none other than the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would become the normative directive of the New Normal. And now, if only the NSA could step in and help out the staunch socialist friend of the US by putting an end to this latest "terrorist" act, everything can go back to normal.
and...
A gunman was at large in Paris on Monday evening, after a dramatic shooting spree in the French capital that began at the offices of one of the country’s most-read newspapers and ended on the iconic Champs-Elysées avenue.
Police said they were searching for a lone gunman believed to be behind attacks in the lobby of daily Libération, outside the offices of the Société Générale bank in the financial hub of La Défense, and at least one other incident at French BFM television last week.
Prosecutors told a press conference in Paris that the man looked European, was between 35 and 45 years old, was tall, and had salt-and-pepper hair. He had been seen wearing a long kaki-coloured coat, as well as green sports shoes with white soles.
Two blurry pictures of the assailant that were taken by security cameras were released to the public.
Photographer in critical condition
One photographer was in critical condition after the suspect shot him in the back at close range with a hunting rifle shortly after 10am Monday, according to witnesses in the headquarters of the left-leaning Libération newspaper in central Paris.
The shooter next appeared in the busy La Defense financial district, just west of the capital, firing his weapon at the building of Société Générale, one of France’s largest banks, around one hour later. There were no injuries at the site of the second shooting.
According to police and several reports, the man then forced a driver to take him to France’s most famous street, the boutique-dotted Champs-Elysées, where he disappeared into a metro station.
Police said that images captured by security cameras on Monday led them to believe that the shooter was the same person who threatened BFM TV journalists with a rifle last Friday. While the man brandished his weapon in the BFM building, he did not fire it.
Tight security
The motives behind the shooting spree still remained unknown, police said, as they reinforced security around the Champs-Elysées area.
There was also tighter security at major media outlets in the French capital following the attacks, including at FRANCE 24. Employees at La Maison de la Radio, a large complex housing several radio stations, were asked to remain indoors during part of the afternoon.
French leaders expressed outrage at the attack.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls, the head of police in France, as well as Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti, arrived at the offices of Libération after the shooting.
“As long as this individual is on the run, as long as we don’t know his motives, he represents a real danger,” Valls noted. “We have to act quickly to stop him.”
Police said they were searching for a lone gunman believed to be behind attacks in the lobby of daily Libération, outside the offices of the Société Générale bank in the financial hub of La Défense, and at least one other incident at French BFM television last week.
Prosecutors told a press conference in Paris that the man looked European, was between 35 and 45 years old, was tall, and had salt-and-pepper hair. He had been seen wearing a long kaki-coloured coat, as well as green sports shoes with white soles.
Two blurry pictures of the assailant that were taken by security cameras were released to the public.
Photographer in critical condition
One photographer was in critical condition after the suspect shot him in the back at close range with a hunting rifle shortly after 10am Monday, according to witnesses in the headquarters of the left-leaning Libération newspaper in central Paris.
The shooter next appeared in the busy La Defense financial district, just west of the capital, firing his weapon at the building of Société Générale, one of France’s largest banks, around one hour later. There were no injuries at the site of the second shooting.
According to police and several reports, the man then forced a driver to take him to France’s most famous street, the boutique-dotted Champs-Elysées, where he disappeared into a metro station.
Police said that images captured by security cameras on Monday led them to believe that the shooter was the same person who threatened BFM TV journalists with a rifle last Friday. While the man brandished his weapon in the BFM building, he did not fire it.
Tight security
The motives behind the shooting spree still remained unknown, police said, as they reinforced security around the Champs-Elysées area.
There was also tighter security at major media outlets in the French capital following the attacks, including at FRANCE 24. Employees at La Maison de la Radio, a large complex housing several radio stations, were asked to remain indoors during part of the afternoon.
French leaders expressed outrage at the attack.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls, the head of police in France, as well as Culture Minister Aurélie Filippetti, arrived at the offices of Libération after the shooting.
“As long as this individual is on the run, as long as we don’t know his motives, he represents a real danger,” Valls noted. “We have to act quickly to stop him.”
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Obama trained by actor Harry Lennox to be Presidential ? Lennox doesn't say no......
Actor Lennix Coy On Claims He Trained Obama
“You’d have to ask him”
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
November 18, 2013
Infowars.com
November 18, 2013
Actor Harry Lennix reacted coyly to claims by Chicago radio host Eric ‘Mancow’ Muller that he trained Barack Obama to copy his mannerisms, denying the story as “hearsay,” yet cryptically adding, “you’d have to ask him.”
As we reported last week, Muller told the Alex Jones Show that Lennix – star of TV’s The Blacklist - reacted to seeing a cut out of Obama in Muller’s studio by proclaiming, “He mimicked me, he followed me for years, and they wanted me to train him and teach him how to act….like a an educated south side African-American.” Lennix added that he thought Obama was “very stupid” and had “been taught to act like this.”
Mancow’s producer Nathan also confirmed that he saw the conversation take place.
After an event at which Lennix appeared, a blogger asked the actor if the claims were true.
“Those are not my words,” said Lennix, who admitted he knew of the controversy, labeling the matter “hearsay.”
However, when asked, “Did Obama train to be like you or is that not true?,” Lennix coyly responded, “You’d have to ask him.”
“I knew him a long time….I have no idea what he did,” added Lennix, who was obviously being guarded with his words.
Image: Harry Lennix with Eric ‘Mancow’ Muller at Muller’s Fox News studio in Chicago last week.
“I don’t like Barack Obama or his policies but I never said I trained him or anything of the kind,” added Lennix, who said he heard of the controversy surrounding the interview but not the interview itself.
Whereas Lennix was reportedly more candid with Muller – calling Obama a “rat bastard” – in the clip above he admits only to not being a supporter of the president.
Lennix’s body language and demeanor is remarkably similar to Barack Obama’s, which is why many have called for Lennix to play the president in a biopic. The actor has also been pictured with Obama in numerous photos.
However, the fact that Lennix reportedly turned down such a role suggests that he is aware of the irony of playing a character who mimics his own behavior – meaning Lennix would essentially be playing himself.
Watch the original interview with ‘Mancow’ Muller below, during which he outlines what Lennix reportedly told him about training Obama to act presidential.
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