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"'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." - Benjamin Franklin Big Grin

Bitcoin deals: Normal rules on income tax, GST apply

SINGAPORE — As Bitcoin gains traction in Singapore, businesses that have yet to start dealing in the world’s best-known virtual currency may be scratching their heads about the tax implications of doing so.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has released details making it clear how businesses should handle Bitcoin transactions on two fronts — income tax, and goods and services tax (GST).
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/bitc...-gst-apply
Silk Road forfeits Bitcoins worth $28m

17 January 2014

The clandestine online marketplace, Silk Road, has forfeited Bitcoins worth $28m (£18m), US prosecutors have said.

Prosecutors had seized the Bitcoins - a virtual currency - as they shut the website, which allowed users to trade in illegal drugs, last year.

The seized Bitcoins were allegedly used "to facilitate money laundering", the prosecutors claimed.

Bitcoins have gained popularity recently but there have been fears they may be used for illegal activities.

"We continue our efforts to take the profit out of crime and signal to those who would turn to the dark web for illicit activity that they have chosen the wrong path," US prosecutor Preet Bharara said in a statement

Mr Bharara added that prosecutors were treating Bitcoins like any other asset involved in money laundering and criminal activity.

"These Bitcoins were forfeited not because they are Bitcoins, but because they were, as the court found, the proceeds of crimes," he said.

Additional seizures

The US authorities have alleged that Silk Road had been designed to "enable its users to buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously".

They said they had also filed charges against Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged owner of the site.

Mr Ulbricht is also known as Dread Pirate Roberts, DPR and Silk Road, the prosecutors said.

As part of the action against the Mr Ulbricht, prosecutors said they had seized an additional 144,336 Bitcoins.

These are worth nearly $130m at current value.

Mr Ulbricht has filed a claim contesting the seizure of the Bitcoins, asserting that they were found on his personal computer and belong to him rather than Silk Road.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25772431
Will it the end of the digital currency?

Bitcoin exchange CEO arrested for money laundering

LONDON — The vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trade group promoting the adoption of the digital currency, has been charged by United States prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road.

Charlie Shrem, who had financial backing from the Winklevoss twins and is well known as one of the bitcoin’s biggest global promoters, was arrested on Sunday at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said yesterday (Jan 27).

Shrem, who was also charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, appeared in US District Court in Manhattan yesterday and was released on US$1 million (S$1.3 million) bond.

“At this point the allegations in the complaint are simply allegations, and Mr Shrem is presumed innocent,” his lawyer Keith Miller said.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/bitcoin-...laundering
The starting of the doom for Bitcoin?

Bitcoin plunges after marketplace indefinitely halts withdrawals

SINGAPORE — The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months yesterday (Feb 10) after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity”.

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as US$500 (S$640) early on Monday, down more than 27 per cent from Friday’s final price of US$692, according to the Mt Gox website. It last traded at US$595.74, off nearly 14 per cent from Friday.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/business/bitc...ithdrawals
SINGAPORE — The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months yesterday (Feb 10) after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity”.

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as US$500 (S$640) early on Monday, down more than 27 per cent from Friday’s final price of US$692, according to the Mt Gox website. It last traded at US$595.74, off nearly 14 per cent from Friday.

“This technical issue is of a much larger intensity than we’ve seen in the past,” said Mr Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Societe Generale in New York. “The market may be realising that there are issues which are specific to these forms of currencies.”

The bitcoin in recent months started to gain wider acceptance, with Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings basketball team both saying they would begin to accept the currency.

More recently, the digital currency has drawn increased scrutiny. New York state’s top bank regulator in late last month revealed plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year.

TRANSACTIONS COULD BE ALTERED

The bitcoin price started falling fast on Friday when Mt Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues.

In an updated statement yesterday, Mt Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it “has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely.”

Mt Gox said a “bug in the bitcoin software” could allow transaction details to be altered.

In effect, someone on the network could alter transaction details to make it appear a transfer of bitcoins from one digital wallet to another had not occurred when in fact it had. This might cause the transfer to be repeated.

A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency’s users.

Mt Gox said the issue was not limited to the exchange and “affects all transactions where bitcoins are being sent to a third party”. It said the withdrawal suspension would be in effect until the issue has been resolved.

CoinDesk, which launched the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index in September, removed Mt Gox from its index Monday, citing its “persistent failure to meet the index’s standards for inclusion”.

“These recent withdrawal restrictions are just the latest in a series of issues which have made Mt Gox’s inclusion in the BPI problematic,” CoinDesk said.

On CoinDesk’s bitcoin index, the bitcoin price was lower but not by nearly as much as on the Mt Gox platform. The CoinDesk index showed bitcoin at US$667.79 late yesterday, down about 5 per cent from Friday’s close of US$703.57. Its low for the day was around US$540 versus US$500 on Mt Gox.

On both platforms, the price was still around the lowest since late December. The price had topped US$1,000 as recently as late January.

“With the volatility in the currency being as much as it is, it’s going to take some time before we get enough of a comfort level from investors and merchants to enable it to be used ubiquitously,” said Mr Darrin Peller, managing director at Barclays in New York.

The arrest of a prominent bitcoin advocate just over two weeks ago threw a spotlight on the currency. Mr Charlie Shrem, 24, operator of the Bitinstant bitcoin exchange company, was charged by United States prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. The following day Mr Shrem resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group. REUTERS



SINGAPORE — The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months yesterday (Feb 10) after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity”.

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as US$500 (S$640) early on Monday, down more than 27 per cent from Friday’s final price of US$692, according to the Mt Gox website. It last traded at US$595.74, off nearly 14 per cent from Friday.

“This technical issue is of a much larger intensity than we’ve seen in the past,” said Mr Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Societe Generale in New York. “The market may be realising that there are issues which are specific to these forms of currencies.”

The bitcoin in recent months started to gain wider acceptance, with Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings basketball team both saying they would begin to accept the currency.

More recently, the digital currency has drawn increased scrutiny. New York state’s top bank regulator in late last month revealed plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year.

TRANSACTIONS COULD BE ALTERED

The bitcoin price started falling fast on Friday when Mt Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues.

In an updated statement yesterday, Mt Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it “has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely.”

Mt Gox said a “bug in the bitcoin software” could allow transaction details to be altered.

In effect, someone on the network could alter transaction details to make it appear a transfer of bitcoins from one digital wallet to another had not occurred when in fact it had. This might cause the transfer to be repeated.

A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency’s users.

Mt Gox said the issue was not limited to the exchange and “affects all transactions where bitcoins are being sent to a third party”. It said the withdrawal suspension would be in effect until the issue has been resolved.

CoinDesk, which launched the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index in September, removed Mt Gox from its index Monday, citing its “persistent failure to meet the index’s standards for inclusion”.

“These recent withdrawal restrictions are just the latest in a series of issues which have made Mt Gox’s inclusion in the BPI problematic,” CoinDesk said.

On CoinDesk’s bitcoin index, the bitcoin price was lower but not by nearly as much as on the Mt Gox platform. The CoinDesk index showed bitcoin at US$667.79 late yesterday, down about 5 per cent from Friday’s close of US$703.57. Its low for the day was around US$540 versus US$500 on Mt Gox.

On both platforms, the price was still around the lowest since late December. The price had topped US$1,000 as recently as late January.

“With the volatility in the currency being as much as it is, it’s going to take some time before we get enough of a comfort level from investors and merchants to enable it to be used ubiquitously,” said Mr Darrin Peller, managing director at Barclays in New York.

The arrest of a prominent bitcoin advocate just over two weeks ago threw a spotlight on the currency. Mr Charlie Shrem, 24, operator of the Bitinstant bitcoin exchange company, was charged by United States prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. The following day Mr Shrem resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group. REUTERS

SINGAPORE — The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months yesterday (Feb 10) after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity”.

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as US$500 (S$640) early on Monday, down more than 27 per cent from Friday’s final price of US$692, according to the Mt Gox website. It last traded at US$595.74, off nearly 14 per cent from Friday.

“This technical issue is of a much larger intensity than we’ve seen in the past,” said Mr Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Societe Generale in New York. “The market may be realising that there are issues which are specific to these forms of currencies.”

The bitcoin in recent months started to gain wider acceptance, with Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings basketball team both saying they would begin to accept the currency.

More recently, the digital currency has drawn increased scrutiny. New York state’s top bank regulator in late last month revealed plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year.

TRANSACTIONS COULD BE ALTERED

The bitcoin price started falling fast on Friday when Mt Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues.

In an updated statement yesterday, Mt Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it “has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely.”

Mt Gox said a “bug in the bitcoin software” could allow transaction details to be altered.

In effect, someone on the network could alter transaction details to make it appear a transfer of bitcoins from one digital wallet to another had not occurred when in fact it had. This might cause the transfer to be repeated.

A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency’s users.

Mt Gox said the issue was not limited to the exchange and “affects all transactions where bitcoins are being sent to a third party”. It said the withdrawal suspension would be in effect until the issue has been resolved.

CoinDesk, which launched the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index in September, removed Mt Gox from its index Monday, citing its “persistent failure to meet the index’s standards for inclusion”.

“These recent withdrawal restrictions are just the latest in a series of issues which have made Mt Gox’s inclusion in the BPI problematic,” CoinDesk said.

On CoinDesk’s bitcoin index, the bitcoin price was lower but not by nearly as much as on the Mt Gox platform. The CoinDesk index showed bitcoin at US$667.79 late yesterday, down about 5 per cent from Friday’s close of US$703.57. Its low for the day was around US$540 versus US$500 on Mt Gox.

On both platforms, the price was still around the lowest since late December. The price had topped US$1,000 as recently as late January.

“With the volatility in the currency being as much as it is, it’s going to take some time before we get enough of a comfort level from investors and merchants to enable it to be used ubiquitously,” said Mr Darrin Peller, managing director at Barclays in New York.

The arrest of a prominent bitcoin advocate just over two weeks ago threw a spotlight on the currency. Mr Charlie Shrem, 24, operator of the Bitinstant bitcoin exchange company, was charged by United States prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. The following day Mr Shrem resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group. REUTERS

SINGAPORE — The price of the digital currency bitcoin slid to its lowest level in nearly two months yesterday (Feb 10) after bitcoin digital marketplace Mt Gox said a halt on withdrawals it announced on Friday would continue indefinitely after it detected “unusual activity”.

The bitcoin price varied dramatically from one exchange to another, with Tokyo-based Mt Gox, the best known operator of a bitcoin digital marketplace, recording one of the biggest drops for the day.

On the Mt Gox platform the currency plunged to as low as US$500 (S$640) early on Monday, down more than 27 per cent from Friday’s final price of US$692, according to the Mt Gox website. It last traded at US$595.74, off nearly 14 per cent from Friday.

“This technical issue is of a much larger intensity than we’ve seen in the past,” said Mr Sebastien Galy, currency strategist at Societe Generale in New York. “The market may be realising that there are issues which are specific to these forms of currencies.”

The bitcoin in recent months started to gain wider acceptance, with Overstock.com and the Sacramento Kings basketball team both saying they would begin to accept the currency.

More recently, the digital currency has drawn increased scrutiny. New York state’s top bank regulator in late last month revealed plans to regulate businesses handling transactions in bitcoin this year.

TRANSACTIONS COULD BE ALTERED

The bitcoin price started falling fast on Friday when Mt Gox said it was temporarily halting withdrawals due to unexplained technical issues.

In an updated statement yesterday, Mt Gox said withdrawals were on hold indefinitely after it “has detected unusual activity on its bitcoin wallets and performed investigations during the past weeks. This confirmed the presence of transactions which need to be examined more closely.”

Mt Gox said a “bug in the bitcoin software” could allow transaction details to be altered.

In effect, someone on the network could alter transaction details to make it appear a transfer of bitcoins from one digital wallet to another had not occurred when in fact it had. This might cause the transfer to be repeated.

A bitcoin wallet is an application that stores bitcoins for the currency’s users.

Mt Gox said the issue was not limited to the exchange and “affects all transactions where bitcoins are being sent to a third party”. It said the withdrawal suspension would be in effect until the issue has been resolved.

CoinDesk, which launched the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index in September, removed Mt Gox from its index Monday, citing its “persistent failure to meet the index’s standards for inclusion”.

“These recent withdrawal restrictions are just the latest in a series of issues which have made Mt Gox’s inclusion in the BPI problematic,” CoinDesk said.

On CoinDesk’s bitcoin index, the bitcoin price was lower but not by nearly as much as on the Mt Gox platform. The CoinDesk index showed bitcoin at US$667.79 late yesterday, down about 5 per cent from Friday’s close of US$703.57. Its low for the day was around US$540 versus US$500 on Mt Gox.

On both platforms, the price was still around the lowest since late December. The price had topped US$1,000 as recently as late January.

“With the volatility in the currency being as much as it is, it’s going to take some time before we get enough of a comfort level from investors and merchants to enable it to be used ubiquitously,” said Mr Darrin Peller, managing director at Barclays in New York.

The arrest of a prominent bitcoin advocate just over two weeks ago threw a spotlight on the currency. Mr Charlie Shrem, 24, operator of the Bitinstant bitcoin exchange company, was charged by United States prosecutors with conspiring to commit money laundering by helping to funnel cash to illicit online drugs bazaar Silk Road. The following day Mr Shrem resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, an advocacy group. REUTERS


http://www.todayonline.com/business/bitc...epage=true
Dear viruskbs,

The article already posted in an existing thread, thus I merged yours into the old thread.

Thanks

Regards
Moderator
bitcoin going the way of dotcom boom
(11-02-2014, 03:31 PM)CityFarmer Wrote: [ -> ]Dear viruskbs,

The article already posted in an existing thread, thus I merged yours into the old thread.

Thanks

Regards
Moderator

its OK.. Big Grin
Would the halts of withdrawal, ripple down to other exchanges?

A second bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp, halts withdrawals

BITSTAMP, one of the largest exchanges for trading the digital bitcoin currency, on Tuesday said it had halted withdrawals on its platform after discovering "inconsistent results reported" by its bitcoin wallet, which it attributed to a denial-of-service attack.

Slovenia-based Bitstamp is now the second major bitcoin exchange to halt customer withdrawals in the past several days, rattling participants in the nascent market. Last Friday, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox halted withdrawals and has yet to restart them, a development that sent bitcoin prices spiraling lower.

In a statement posted Tuesday on its website, Bitstamp said withdrawals that failed on Monday and Tuesday would be canceled, and "the amounts added back to the customer account balances." On Bitstamp's exchange, the bitcoin price was quoted at about US$645, down about 6 per cent on the day. - Reuters

Ref: Business Times Breaking News
The reason for the recent shutdown of Bitcoin exchanges. The next question is who will bear the damage, the exchanges or those unlucky users?

Cyber thieves blamed for Bitcoin heist: researchers
25 Feb 2014 06:15
[WASHINGTON] A gang of cyber criminals using an army of infected computers made off with at least US$220,000 worth of Bitcoins and other virtual currencies, security researchers said Monday.

The researchers from the security firm Trustwave said the heist was accomplished by a botnet of computers using malware that has been dubbed "Pony".

The Pony botnet has infected an estimated 700,000 people or computers, allowing the criminals to control those accounts.

The scheme "collected approximately US$220,000 worth, at time of writing, of virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, LiteCoin, FeatherCoin and 27 others," said a blog post from researchers Daniel Chechik and Anat Davidi.
...
Ref: Business Times Breaking News
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