This is the Forward’s coverage of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Cryptocurrency
The Latest
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News The Man Bitcoin Built – and Then Destroyed
This article is excerpted and adapted from “Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money” by Nathaniel Popper. Charlie Shrem sits in prison in central Pennsylvania, the cautionary face of the futuristic movement that developed around the virtual currency Bitcoin. This can seem a rather unlikely position…
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Israel News Bitcoin Makes Aliyah as Virtual Currency Gains Favor in Israel
(JTA) — Blocks away from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the headquarters of two major banks, in the corner of the lobby of a boutique hotel, Nimrod Gruber sticks his hand into an ATM. A few seconds later, a QR code prints out. Gruber takes the slip of paper and walks away, no cash…
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Fast Forward Bitcoin Firms Hit With Subpoenas in Deals Linked to Jewish Currency Whiz
Several bitcoin exchanges including the now-defunct Mt. Gox received subpoenas from Manhattan federal prosecutors this winter as they look into possible ties between the exchanges and the online drug market Silk Road, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The subpoenas to Mt. Gox demanded customer-transaction logs and materials…
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Fast Forward Jewish MIT Students Create $100 Bitcoin Giveaway Plan
(Reuters) — Every undergraduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology next fall will be offered $100 in bitcoins in an experiment that students say will turn the prestigious university into one of the first places on the planet with widespread access to digital currency. Bitcoin is not backed by any government or central bank,…
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Fast Forward Bitcoin Guru Busted in Silk Road Scam
Prominent bitcoin entrepreneur Charlie Shrem has been indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges of funneling cash to the illicit online marketplace Silk Road. Shrem, known as one of the digital currency’s most visible promoters, is accused of conspiring with a Florida man, Robert Faiella, to sell more than $1 million…
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News Bitcoin Bites the Dust at Baltimore Shul After MtGox Goes Bust
A small Baltimore synagogue that pioneered use of bitcoin has decided to stop accepting the virtual exchange for donations after a leading exchange collapsed amid reports of seven-figure losses. Congregation Tiferes Yisroel had no relationship with MtGox, which declared bankruptcy over the snafu, and did not lose money when the bitcoin exchange went under. But…
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Fast Forward Janet Yellen Suggests Regulating Bitcoin
The U.S. Congress should look into legal options for regulating virtual currencies such as bitcoin, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Thursday. Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox went dark on Tuesday, leaving customers unable to access their accounts. Experts have warned they might not have much recourse to recover their money. Yellen said the…
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News Bitcoin’s Jewish Whiz Kid
Before the late-January arrest of Charlie Shrem, the yeshiva-educated mastermind behind the online commerce site BitInstant, I hadn’t made a Jewish connection with Bitcoin. A digital currency that’s not regulated or backed by any government or central bank, and whose value depends on demand, Bitcoin has been all over the business and technology pages, but…
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