The Logicoins Resort Project

Whistler to Welcome The in Latest Enablement Technology

The Logicoins Resort Project provides immediate access to “Cash In and Cash Out” Multi Crypto-Currency Enablement Technology, including Booking and Reservation services.

Open source, peer-to-peer money-exchange network Bitcoin is getting a new outlet in Canada. Logicoins Network has announced the installation of their latest cash in-cash out ATM in the west coast tourist hotspot of Whistler.

Whistler for Tourists

As home to Blackcomb Mountain, and what has been called some of the best alpine skiing in North America, Whistler provides a prime location for Logicoins “Resort Municipality” pilot project.

The municipality averages 2 million annual visitors, bringing in both summer and winter crowds. In 2013, Whistler was the recipient of multiple tourist accolades, including being named the Northwest Region’s Best Overall ski resort by ski site OnTheSnow (www.onthesnow.ca), and one of the top ten mountain bike destinations in North America by mountain biking website Singletracks.

While it may be most renowned for its outdoor spaces, Whistler has proven itself an all around vacation destination, receiving honors as one of the most romantic places in the country, as a top family destination, and as home to lauded restaurants and spas as well.

Income from the area’s top tourist draws have combined to produce a substantial influx of cash into Canada’s economy, with the Whistler resort municipality bringing in more than $1.3 billion in annual revenue.

 

Bitcoin for Travel Expenses

The Logicoins resort project, being carried out in conjunction with ClickJett.com is launching and opening up for business officially on Saturday April 19th. The Logicoins Network brings access to crypto and digital currencies in places where exchanges regularly take place and users frequently use booking and reservation systems, and require easy access to automated cash in and cash out systems potentially revolutionizing the entire travel industry.

The Whistler installation is only the beginning. As the pilot project proves a success, Logicoins aims to install these systems in all major resorts all around the world potentially adding an incredible amount of infrastructure to the entire digital currency system. This would not only provide users with immediate access to the Bitcoin network, but would potentially allow users to book hotels and other travel-related expenses using bitcoin, without the need for those destinations to accept Bitcoin directly.

Bitcoin has already found success with its peer-to-peer internet and mobile device-based money exchange network. Its quick international money transfers, low fees and military-grade security make it a boon to those who require instant access to money, but who prefer not to carry a lot of cash on them. Few groups fit this description better than regular travellers, which makes the Logicoins “Resort Municipality” project an ideal step forward in the digital currency revolution.

New Technology for Savings

Unlike other standard ATM systems, The Logicoins’ technology-forward cash in-cash out multi-currency ATM will allow customers to complete real-time bitcoin purchases and sales through a live exchange. These real-time exchanges will take place at the current trading price at the time of the exchange, with maximum cash withdrawal of $500 and live-purchases at $1000 per transaction. The scheduled launch date for Whistler’s real-time Bitcoin ATM is April 19, 2014. The machine is expected to be fully operational on that day.

 

Join us for the De-Centralized Ski Party and Official Logicoins Launch Party!

 

The De-Centralized Ski Party

The De-Centralized Ski Party starts at 1pm by the Wizard Chair (Magic Chair) at the foot of Blackcomb mountain, on the South side of Blackcomb Admin.

For anyone with day/season passes:
11:15 at the Roundhouse to ride.. 
12:15 – 1:15 lunchtime party.. 
2:15-3 – Wizzard Chair JoinUP with the Newbs riding the magic chair ;p

ADIP66014

 

Apres SkiParty and Bitcoin Meetup

The meetup and information session will take place at 4pm at Kypriaki Norte Restaurant
4122 Village Green

kypriaki-norte-map

 

The Launch Party for Logicoins

The Launch Party for Logicoins will begin at 7:30pm at West Coast Float
7-4433 Sundial Place

Screen-Shot-2014-04-13-at-7.42.06-PM

 

One Does Not Simply Find Satoshi Nakamoto

Newsweek’s decision to out Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto as the creator of bitcoin appears to be backfiring spectacularly.

Nakamoto was quick to deny that he was the ‘real’ Satoshi Nakamoto and he attributed the misunderstanding to his less than perfect command of the English language.

He told the Associated Press[1] that he refused to discuss his employment with Newsweek reporter Leah McGrath Goodman because he had signed confidentiality agreements, not because he was involved in the development of bitcoin.

If unfounded, Newsweek’s scoop could very quickly turn into a PR nightmare, as the magazine ran the report in its re-launched print edition. Perhaps Newsweek was simply too eager to get a scoop for the big day?

Back to the stone age

Newsweek is not the first publication to try and reveal the identity of the mystery man[2]. What was so different this time around?

First of all, bitcoin is bigger and better-known, used frequently as headline ’link bait’. Secondly, this was not the work of blogger or a niche website. Newsweek has quite a reputation, or at least it used to.

Six years ago Satoshi Nakamoto was just another anonymous member of the P2P Foundation, so 2008 would be a good place to start. Back then nobody knew bitcoin would become a global phenomenon, so anonymity wasn’t such a big deal.

Satoshi Nakamoto had a simple user profile and claimed to be a 37-year-old Japanese man. The community didn’t exactly buy it, as certain details did not add up. His English was good and sometimes he used British English. Judging by the time he made his posts, the mystery man probably resided in the Americas, not Japan.

On the other hand, bitcoin.org was registered using a Japanese anonymous registration service and it was hosted by a Japanese ISP.

Several developers were working on digital currencies and e-cash technology even before Nakamoto published his bitcoin whitepaper. Most of them were not anonymous and even today there are people in the bitcoin community who claim that these crypto pioneers are the real Satoshi.

Nick Szabo[3], Hal Finney, Wei Dai and several other developers were among those who were periodically named in media reports and online discussions.

They all insist they are not Nakamoto.

Media reports start to emerge

As bitcoin took off, the media started taking notice and another round of speculation ensued. In 2011 an investigative journalist identified three patent holders[4] as Nakamoto. All three denied they were involved.

The same year, The New Yorker ran a story claiming that a few Dublin-based scholars including Dr Vili Lehdonvirta could be behind bitcoin, but once again the claim was followed by denials[5].

The list of potential Satoshis continued to expand. Eventually it started looking like the “who’s who” of bitcoin. Founder of Mt. Gox[6] Jed McCaleb was eventually named, along with several scholars, core developers such as Finney, crypto specialists and just about everyone else who could remotely fit the profile.

Interestingly, all ‘suspects’ were men – we’re still waiting for the first female Satoshi.

Conspiracy theorists join the fun

Rampant speculation in a fact-free environment is an invitation to conspiracy theorists, thus a number of whacky and rather amusing theories have emerged over the years.

Some insist the DARPA[7] is behind bitcoin, while others maintain it was created by the NSA, or any of a number of secretive government agencies that have the brains and resources to develop cutting-edge crypto technologies. One theory alleges the ‘real’ Satoshi is in fact NSA researcher Tasuaki Okamoto.

Since conspiracy theorists have a penchant for one-world governments and global domination, some claim bitcoin was in fact created by the IMF to serve as a global currency.

Others point to central banks[8], financial institutions or tech companies.

It doesn’t really matter, does it?

Satoshi Nakamoto left the world of bitcoin[9] in 2010, saying he is moving on to new projects. He handed everything over to the bitcoin community, the source code repository, the domains – everything but his bitcoins. Nakamoto is still believed to hold about one million coins, which would have made him a billionaire when bitcoin peaked[10].

A few hours after Newsweek outed Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the ‘real’ Nakamoto logged into his disused P2P Foundation account and left a simple message:

“I am not Dorian Nakamoto.”

Nicolas Mendoza from P2P Foundation took to reddit[11], saying the foundation is in the process of verifying whether Satoshi’s post is legitimate. He said an official statement will be issued in the coming hours.

But in the grand scheme of things, does it really matter? The real Satoshi clearly does not want the attention – if he dropped everything in 2010, when bitcoin was still a geekish curiosity, he surely does not want it now.

The community loves the bitcoin mystique and if he ever comes forward, much of the romantic mystery surrounding bitcoin will be gone for good. Other than a few headlines, the world of bitcoin wouldn’t gain much, yet Nakamoto would lose his privacy and peace of mind. In other words, it is not going to happen.

That said, he could make an appearance without revealing his true identity. After all, he seem to be pretty good at that sort of thing – and he wouldn’t have to develop a proof-of-identity protocol to make it happen.

Maze image[12] via Shutterstock

newsweeksatoshi nakamotosecurity[13][14][15]

References

  1. ^ Associated Press (www.coindesk.com)
  2. ^ mystery man (www.thesundaytimes.co.uk)
  3. ^ Nick Szabo (techcrunch.com)
  4. ^ three patent holders (www.google.com)
  5. ^ denials (www.coindesk.com)
  6. ^ Mt. Gox (www.coindesk.com)
  7. ^ DARPA (www.darpa.mil)
  8. ^ central banks (www.coindesk.com)
  9. ^ left the world of bitcoin (p2pfoundation.ning.com)
  10. ^ bitcoin peaked (www.coindesk.com)
  11. ^ took to reddit (www.reddit.com)
  12. ^ Maze image (www.shutterstock.com)
  13. ^ newsweek (www.coindesk.com)
  14. ^ satoshi nakamoto (www.coindesk.com)
  15. ^ security (www.coindesk.com)

Coin Miners Dogged By Mining Pool Security Flaws

Distributed denial-of-service attacks have posed an increasingly severe problem for cryptocurrency exchanges and mining pools in recent weeks.

Last month, several major pools in the mining community suffered debilitating DDoS attacks that resulted in significant delays, lost mining time and frustration for miners.

In extreme cases, as explained by TeamDoge[1] administrator Forrest Suqua, some pools received ransom messages[2] from hackers demanding payoffs in exchange for pulling back their attacks.

Suqua said that security flaws in the Mining Portal Open Source (MPOS) pool software commonly used throughout the community have made it all too easy for cyber attackers to disrupt mining activities and extract ransoms from pools.

He cited the example of Dogepool.pw, which suffered a serious attack on its database. He added:

“Dogepool.pw actually got their database hacked at one point, due to the fact of insecurities in the main pool software that everyobody owns. Even the biggest mining pool for Litecoin uses it as their backend. It’s everywhere in their templates – they’re using the exact same framework. So some of these security exploits affect us all.”

More troubling is the fact that the security flaws are not fully understood by the mining community. When asked if these flaws meant that any pool using MPOS could suffer an attack, Suqua said that these events are already taking place.

“They have been happening to other pools and we don’t know how.”

He suggested that it could be an internal backdoor built into the widely-available MPOS software, but Suqua could not say affirmatively if this was the case.

Stolen coins

In the case of Dogepool.pw, at least 15 million dogecoins were taken from the pool’s master wallet, although Suqua suggested that as much as 35 million dogecoins had been stolen.

In the case of TeamDoge, the hackers have struck numerous times, including an assault on the pool’s stratum software that is used to pull together the collective computing power of all the miners.

The miners sync with the protocol to receive notifications on their work, including the accrual of shares.

TeamDoge’s stratum protocol was hit by a DDoS attack[3] comprised of more than 200,000 IP addresses. Given stratum’s limited capability for handling queries from users, it resulted in an outage of two and a half hours. Once stratum reaches its limit, the protocol begins dropping connections.

One of the issues is that structural problems in the MPOS software make it difficult for pool admins to make necessary changes. “Nobody touches [stratum], and there’s two reasons why,” Suqua explained.

“Stratum is very sensitive to changes because of the way its written. Also, because it’s the money maker. If your front end goes down, nobody cares. But if the stratum goes down, people stop making money, so there go your workers. And they scurry off to a different pool. No current DDoS protections can protect the stratum.”

“We were actually contacted by a guy ransoming the pool,” he continued. “He verifies this by turning off the DDoS and turning it back on.”

The cost of a DDoS attack

A DDoS attack on a pool can create major headaches for pool administrators like Suqua.

The immediate impact is that the pool malfunctions and miners – who may not be actively monitoring their software – stop receiving shares for their work.

Depending on the severity of the attack, including whether or not the hackers actually infiltrate the database, the damage done to the system can result in even longer disruptions. Attacks can be damaging for reputations as well. Miners[4] may fear that a pool is no longer safe and will look for alternative.

While most mining software allows configuration for backup pools, concerns over future attacks, and the corresponding loss of revenue, may be enough to dissuade a pool miner from returning.

Who is behind the attacks?

During the interview, Suqua couldn’t say for sure who might be behind the attack. The most probable answer would be hackers hoping to accrue large amounts of coins to then move to exchanges. Suqua went on to speculate that bad actors from competing pools may also be behind the attacks.

At the time of this writing, mining pools throughout the community continue to experience DDoS attacks on both their front-end servers as well as their stratum protocols.

Suqua said he was currently engaged in upgrading TeamDoge’s infrastructure to help withstand – but not prevent – cyber attacks.

For the immediate future the risk of DDoS attacks on mining pools remains real. It remains to be seen whether or not developers will tackle the flaws in the commonly-used MPOS software.

DDoSdogecoinMining Poolsransomware[5][6][7][8]

References

  1. ^ TeamDoge (teamdoge.com)
  2. ^ ransom messages (www.coindesk.com)
  3. ^ DDoS attack (www.coindesk.com)
  4. ^ Miners (www.coindesk.com)
  5. ^ DDoS (www.coindesk.com)
  6. ^ dogecoin (www.coindesk.com)
  7. ^ Mining Pools (www.coindesk.com)
  8. ^ ransomware (www.coindesk.com)

Alleged Mt. Gox Victim Files Class Action Lawsuit, Now His Lawyers Speak Out

The fallout from Mt. Gox’s 28th February bankruptcy filing[1] is already in full swing, as one bitcoin investor has filed a class action lawsuit in Chicago on behalf of the alleged victims of the troubled Japan-based exchange and its CEO, Mark Karpeles.

Gregory Greene and his lawyer Steven Woodrow, a partner at the Edelson law firm[2] in Denver, Colorado, filed a complaint against Mt. Gox and Karpeles in the U.S. District Court on Thursday, claiming the company was fraudulent and negligent in its failure to protect customers against theft.

Woodrow, who submitted the lawsuit to the Northern District of Illinois in the U.S. District Court, stated his position on the filing, saying:

“This is a case of serial mismanagement, if not outright fraud, by Karpeles and Mt. Gox.”

Greene estimates that his stake of bitcoins tied up in Mt. Gox is around $25,000[3]. Still, the reported shortage of 850,000 bitcoins at Mt. Gox puts the total estimated value of lost bitcoins at over $475m at today’s market price, meaning the lawsuit could be the first of many.

Edelson partner Chris Dore[4] spoke to CoinDesk about the case, confirming that interest in joining the class action is already high.

Framing the case

Dore said that the Mt. Gox case is a natural extension for his law firm, which specializes in consumer tech cases relating to online privacy and data breaches. He noted that though this is the law firm’s first bitcoin case, they’ve been interested in the space for some time and even “started investigating” the Mt. Gox incident before they were contacted by Greene.

As for whether they’ll be able to try the case in the US in light of Mt. Gox’s status as a Japan-based organization, Dore was unconcerned, saying:

“We moved under US law. They have a US entity that is here and they do business in the US, so at the most basic level they’ve subjected themselves to the jurisdiction of the US.

So, we don’t have to worry about Japanese laws and how they apply.”

Dore admitted there would likely be “some issues” given the company’s location, but said he’s “confident that [his firm] can work through those” on behalf of its clients.

Failure to provide security

Central to Greene’s case it seems will be the assertion that Mt. Gox had the obligation to uphold appropriate security on behalf of customers, and that this failure amounted to negligence.

Argues Greene in a statement:

“Mt. Gox intentionally and knowingly failed to provide its users with the level of security protection for which they paid.”

Dore echoed this concern, stating:

“Part of the reason that you pay a company like this is to provide a security service. Part of that fee is the promise they’re making to keep their money safe.”

The lawyer continued alleging that Mt. Gox effectively allowed a “slow bleed hack” to occur, one that its purportedly improper accounting practices were ill-equipped to detect.

Valuing the loss

Dore indicated that exactly how class members would be reimbursed, if needed, was still “an open question,” but that he already sees a number of ways any lost bitcoins can be properly valued.

In particular, Dore suggested that prices could be fixed at the time of Mt. Gox’s decision to abruptly suspend service[5], or at any other similar point.

“There is a sliding scale because it is a fluctuating currency, but you can look at it from a timing perspective.”

As to the issue of whether any bitcoins will prover recoverable, Dore, too, was optimistic. Said Dore:

“Simply because you’ve declared bankruptcy doesn’t mean that you have no money. We don’t know, that’s the bottom line. That’s what the purpose of the lawsuit is, to uncover where the money went.”

First lawsuit of many

Greene’s lawsuit is seeking class action status for himself and other Mt. Gox users, who are asking for monetary damages and restitution. Unfortunately for many, Dore indicated that the class is limited to US citizens only. However, he did state that his firm may file a similar suit on behalf of clients in Canada and other jurisdictions.

Still, interest in the US is high, as Dore indicated, saying:

“Since we’ve been sitting here on the phone, I’ve seen three emails come in.”

It’s not yet clear who will represent Mt. Gox in its defense, though Baker & Mackenzie, the law firm that represents Mt. Gox in Japan has been named as a possibility.

Baker & Mackenzie declined to comment on the article. For more on the case, view the full filing below.

Image credit: Class action lawsuit[6] via Shutterstock | Additional reporting provided by Tom Sharkey

class actionlawMt. GoxUS regulation[7][8][9][10]

References

  1. ^ Mt. Gox’s 28th February bankruptcy filing (www.coindesk.com)
  2. ^ Edelson law firm (www.edelson.com)
  3. ^ $25,000 (www.coindesk.com)
  4. ^ Chris Dore (www.edelson.com)
  5. ^ to abruptly suspend service (www.coindesk.com)
  6. ^ Class action lawsuit (www.shutterstock.com)
  7. ^ class action (www.coindesk.com)
  8. ^ law (www.coindesk.com)
  9. ^ Mt. Gox (www.coindesk.com)
  10. ^ US regulation (www.coindesk.com)

Optimism Grows as Mt. Gox Chapter Ends and Bitcoin Turns the Page

shutterstock_96682798

The death bells tolled loudly for Mt. Gox this week as the threads of its elaborate cloak of cover-ups, lies and poor business practices came undone, first with the release of documents the revealed a struggling company[1] desperately seeking new capital, then ultimately with its formal bankruptcy filing[2] on 28th February.

The news reverberated beyond the industry, with mainstream media plunging headlong into the sensational story that was likened to some of the more infamous debacles in the history of the traditional financial system, such as Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns[3].

Still, increased pressure from the outside world galvanized an impressive display of support and resilience from the bitcoin community as it worked to set facts straight and fight against the most recent wave of negative PR.

Notably, major names in the industry like principal of Winklevoss Capital Management Tyler Winklevoss, noted VC investor Fred Wilson and early Internet entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, along with a host of others[4], went on the offensive for both bitcoin the technology and bitcoin the community.

The result was a growing sentiment that an integral chapter in the bitcoin story had been written, and that the coming year will still give way to the increased investment and higher levels of adoption that were expected at the end of 2013.

Tyler Winklevoss weighs in

Tyler Winklevoss spoke out about Mt. Gox via a blog post[5], noting that the bitcoin market wasn’t exactly suprised by the news. For example, he indicated that he personally stopped using Mt. Gox last summer, when it “started to look like a roach motel”.

But, Winklevoss didn’t just talk about bitcoin as an investment. He also embraced the idea that the sudden end to Mt. Gox[6] was necessary for the ecosystem, citing it as evidence of the need for the US to work quickly to ensure the creation of regulated exchanges.

Said Winklevoss:

“The Mt. Gox ‘crisis’, as it’s been reported, has really been more of a speed bump on the road to mainstream maturity.”

Further, he revealed that he hasn’t sold any bitcoin despite the panic, saying “in fact, I have taken this as an opportunity to buy more” in a statement that could do much to encourage investment.

Fred Wilson reflects

In contrast to his sometimes brash public demeanor, Fred Wilson struck a more somber and reflective note in a blog post on 25th February[7], choosing to emphasize the sadness he felt at the passing of the first bitcoin company he transacted with.

Wilson continued, noting that bitcoin’s ability to withstand such a collapse was actually an advantage over the existing financial system.

Explained Wilson:

“The wonderful thing about a globally distributed financial network is that if one of the nodes goes down, it doesn’t take the system down.”

He also noted the increasing investment and suggested that “failures, crashes and other messes” are just par for the course with any new disruptive ecosystem.

Andreessen on the offensive

Noted early Internet investor Marc Andreessen was one more the more vocal voices from the bitcoin community, as he took to major news networks[8] to defend bitcoin and its underlying technology.

Andreessen, too, suggested that bitcoin would emerge from the latest setback stronger than ever, now famously stating that Mt. Gox “had to die” as part of this transition. He’ll likely have more time to help move this narrative forward at coming major industry events[9].

For a full review of the Mt. Gox story, view our complete timeline of the exchange’s entire history below:

Image credit: Open book[10] via Shutterstock

Fred WilsoninvestmentMarc AndreessenMt. GoxWinklevoss[11][12][13][14][15]

References

  1. ^ revealed a struggling company (www.coindesk.com)
  2. ^ formal bankruptcy filing (www.coindesk.com)
  3. ^ Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns (blogs.wsj.com)
  4. ^ along with a host of others (www.coindesk.com)
  5. ^ via a blog post (www.winklevosscapital.com)
  6. ^ the sudden end to Mt. Gox (www.coindesk.com)
  7. ^ a blog post on 25th February (www.coindesk.com)
  8. ^ took to major news networks (www.coindesk.com)
  9. ^ coming major industry events (www.coindesk.com)
  10. ^ Open book (www.shutterstock.com)
  11. ^ Fred Wilson (www.coindesk.com)
  12. ^ investment (www.coindesk.com)
  13. ^ Marc Andreessen (www.coindesk.com)
  14. ^ Mt. Gox (www.coindesk.com)
  15. ^ Winklevoss (www.coindesk.com)

What can you give when they have it all? ~ Low Fees!

Bitcoin may not be the end, but it is certainly the beginning.

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