Bitcoiners Brace for More Performance Art and Another ‘Satoshi Reveal’
On Friday, a variety of paid press releases were published stemming from a company called Satoshi Nakamoto Renaissance Holdings, a firm that claims a big “reveal” is coming on Sunday, August 18. According to the announcement, Satoshi Nakamoto will divulge his “real-life identity” alongside his “country of origin, education, professional background, and why he has yet to move any of his 980,000...
Passing the Burden of Negative Rates to Bank Clients Opens Door for Cryptocurrencies
Record low and negative interest rates have put commercial banks in a difficult spot. Across Europe, they have been passing the burden to their clients. Some have introduced fees for those with large account balances, while others are punishing everybody equally. In any case, some bankers fear this could lead to withdrawal of large amounts in cash, jeopardizing the cashless society traditional financial institutions have been...
How Coinbase Quietly Became the World’s Biggest Bitcoin Bank
On August 15, the San Francisco-based digital currency exchange Coinbase announced that it had acquired the cryptocurrency custody service Xapo’s institutional branch. The business move puts Coinbase in the limelight, making it the largest custodial service for digital assets worldwide, with more than $7 billion under custody. Also Read: Hong Kong Protest Leader Hopes to Incite Run on Chinese Banks Coinbase Acquires Xapo’s...
Anti-Piracy Efforts Are Unlikely to Beat Sci-Hub
Sci-Hub has often been referred to as “The Pirate Bay of Science,” but that description really sells the site short. While both sites are helping the public to access copyrighted content without permission, Sci-Hub has also become a crucial tool that arguably helps the progress of science. The site allows researchers to bypass expensive paywalls so they can read articles written by their fellow colleagues. The information...
Man Tried to Burn Down Telecoms Watchdog to Avenge Pirate Site-Blocking
While copyright holders and many governments see site-blocking as a reasoned and measured response to copyright infringement, some people view it as overkill. People should be able to access whatever content they want without rich corporations deciding what should and should not appear on computer screens, the argument goes. For former student Pavel Kopylov, blocking of pirate sites in Russia has gone too far. So, to make his...
