作者: apple apple

In the evolving story of a so-called “stablecoin” the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James accused iFinex Inc. — operator of the Bitfinex exchange and the Tether cryptocurrency — of trying to cover up “the apparent loss of $850 million dollars of co-mingled client and corporate funds.” While researchers have tied Tether transactions to the spike in Bitcoin value that occurred between March 2017 and March 2018, this issue of the missing money is allegedly tied to a transfer of $850 million in funds to Crypto Capital Corp., a payment processor based in Panama.

The AG says Bitfinex lost access to funds it had transferred there after regular banks stopped handling its business and subsequently dipped into $900 million of Tether’s cash reserves. According to the filing, Crypto Capital Corp. told Bitfinex the funds were “seized by governmental authorities in Portugal, Poland, and the United States” but the AG says Bitfinex doesn’t believe that is true.

The concept of Tether is supposed to be that it’s a cryptocurrency backed one-to-one by US dollars or possibly other assets, however as the Wall Street Journal points out, the lack of an updated public audit has fueled speculation about whether the $2 billion or so that it should have in reserves are actually there. According to the AG, Bitfinex has taken “at least” $700 million from Tether.

After the AG’s statement came out, Bitfinex issued one of its own, saying that “The New York Attorney General’s court filings were written in bad faith and are riddled with false assertions, including as to a purported $850 million “loss” at Crypto Capital. On the contrary, we have been informed that these Crypto Capital amounts are not lost but have been, in fact, seized and safeguarded.” It claims Bitfinex and Tether are financially strong, “full stop” and said it will fight these actions. Source: Bitfinex, Tether, NY AG Coverage: Wall Street Journal, Coindesk, Fortune In this article: bitcoin, bitfinex, business, Cryptocurrency, new york, new york attorney general, security, tether

cnet.com
ZTE will reportedly pay total of $1.7B to lift US Commerce Department ban
by Jessica Dolcourt
Chinese telecom giant ZTE said its major operations had ceased following last month’s US ban on American sales of critical technology to the company.

Johannes Eisele / AFP/Getty Images
Embattled Chinese telecommunications manufacturer ZTE may be alive after all.

The company has agreed in principle to a settlement that would lift the Commerce Department ban preventing US companies from doing business with ZTE, according to a Reuters tweet. In exchange, ZTE would have to pay a total of $1.7 billion in penalties, according to the the report. The preliminary deal includes a $1 billion fine and $400 million in escrow in case of future violations. This comes on top of the $361 million ZTE had already paid under the original settlement.

The ban had been put in place for ZTE’s failure to see through the proper punishment for doing business in Iran and North Korea, and it had proved crippling, forcing the Chinese company to shut down major operations. ZTE seemingly had little hope of survival until President Donald Trump tweeted that he was pushing the Commerce Department to work with ZTE to remove the ban —– an unprecedented move by a US president to countermand one of his own departments.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle criticized Trump’s tweet as irresponsible, prompting him to defend his position with yet another tweet. ZTE, the fourth-largest smartphone maker in the US by market share, “buys a big percentage of individual parts from U.S. companies.” He also said ZTE was “reflective of the larger trade deal we are negotiating with China and my personal relationship with President Xi.”

On Tuesday, Charles Schumer, a Democratic senator from New York, tweeted that the deal shows Trump put China, and not the US, first. “The president who roared like a lion is governing like a lamb when it comes to China,” he tweeted, calling for Congress to take action.

Facebook has come under fire recently for privacy after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Cambridge Analytica was a firm which accessed data of tens of millions of Facebook users, without their explicit consent, and used it to sell their ad targeting capabilities to political entities.  The firm was recently caught boasting about their tactics, including extortion, bribery and entrapment by a Channel 4 documentary in the UK.

In response to this, Brian Acton, WhatsApp co-founder, has tweeted that users should delete Facebook, and take advantage of more private solutions, like Signal. Acton previously sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion dollars in 2014.

While Acton’s interest in Signal seems quite self-interested on the face of it, Facebook really has stepped in it this time. The company is facing summons and inquiries from both US and European legislators, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been absent from the conversation.

Similarly, many tech publications have taken advantage of the zeitgeist, with how-to guides urging users to delete Facebook.
Facebook might end up inadvertently shape the future of privacy on social media, and push it into a more private sphere than it had previously existed in.

According to public documents the mining giant based out of Beijing, Bitmain Technologies, is allegedly building a data facility near Port Walla Walla, Washington called ‘Ant Creek.’

Also read: Washington Politicians Defend Regulations as Cryptocurrency Exchanges Flee

Is Bitmain Quietly Constructing a Large Mining Facility in Washington State?

The mining company and device manufacturer Bitmain has been quietly developing some sort of data facility based near the Port Walla Walla in Washington state. According to registration documents online, Ant Creek LLC is a firm based in Tumwater, Washington, and the active company was logged as an LLC on June 28, 2017. The for-profit Washington company’s record ownership is filed under Jihan Wu’s name.

Washington state in the U.S. has seen a surge of interest over the past few months due to cheaper electricity rates. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on a small town called Wenatchee which is three hours from Seattle that’s becoming a mining epicenter. Allegedly the small town is home to a dozen miners, and over 75 have inquired with the head of the local power utility, Steve Wright. Chelan County in Washington is considering hosting mining operations in that area as well.

Ant Creek to Provide Millions in Private Revenue and Full Time Jobs

As far as Bitmain’s Ant Creek is concerned the Port of Walla Walla’s Executive Director, Patrick Reay tells the regional publication the Union Bulletin that he has been working with Ant Creek for roughly six months. Reay explains the development is a “blockchain facility.” The town of Port Walla Walla is considering the lease of 40 acres of land between two industrial parks. According to the local news and the Port’s bureaucrats, the “bitcoin mining” project could produce $7-10 million in private revenue and 15-20 full-time jobs.

“Our purpose is to generate assessed value and create jobs,” Reay explains in an interview.

The Port’s Director details that the lease will be roughly $4,166 USD per month and a $535 state leasehold tax. Further Ant Creek will help develop certain property requirements like storm drainage, and water lines in line with the Walla Walla County building statutes. Bitmain Technologies is also strategically setting up facilities in Canada and Switzerland this year.

Are you running late for work and blaming your electric alarm clock?

The real reason may lie in a dispute between Kosovo and Serbia, which has affected Europe’s power grid.

Entsoe, the body representing electricity transmission operators across 25 European countries, said bedside clocks had slowed down by up to six minutes since mid-January.

Central heating timers and oven clocks are also affected – but not computers or smart phones.

Countries from Spain to Turkey and from Poland to the Netherlands are part of a large area in Europe linked together into an electricity grid that operates at a synchronised frequency. This frequency regulates time-keeping in certain devices.

The UK and some Nordic countries are not affected.

During the crisis period, Kosovo did not generate enough electricity to meet its needs.

According to Entsoe, Serbia is legally obliged to meet Kosovo’s demand to keep the European grid stable.

But because Kosovo and Serbia are in dispute over the issue – and many more related to Kosovo’s unilateral secession from Serbia 10 years ago – Serbia did not step in.

This failure to act on time forced the frequency to “deviate” – and the drop affected the clocks. Other countries that lost reserves amounting to 113 GWh are seeking compensation.

“The deviation stopped yesterday [Tuesday] when Kosovo generated the energy it needs,” Entsoe spokeswoman Susanne Nies told the BBC.

Surplus energy would need to be generated and fed into the system over time for the balance to be redressed across the continent, Ms Nies said.

So yes, you can manually adjust your clocks – but they will automatically stop losing time once the grid stabilises.