APR 21 DIGEST: KnC Miner Sued by Customers, NJ Cop Caught Selling Stolen Mining Equipment

A class action lawsuit has been filed against KnC miner; A New Jersey police officer has been charged with official misconduct and receiving stolen property after selling stolen Bitcoin mining equipment, and more top stories for April 21.

Bitcoin ASIC Manufacturor KnCMiner Sued by Customers

A group of some two dozen people represented by the Swedish Law Firm Advokatfirman Rise & Co AB is bringing a class action lawsuit against Swedish Bitcoin ASIC Manufacturer KnCMiner. There are many reasons behind this lawsuit, and every person seems to have their own different motives. Some of these reasons include late deliveries of products, some complain about weak results from these products, and others say they have been sold second hand machines – among other reasons.

New Jersey Cop Caught Selling Stolen BTC Mining Equipment

New Jersey police officer Vincent Saggese is charged with official misconduct and receiving stolen property after selling stolen bitcoin mining equipment in an undercover sting.

Additionally, Sagesse accepted US$250 from an undercover agent in exchange for providing the detective with an address of a license plate owner and a photo of that person. Shortly after his arrest, Sagesse was suspended without pay, pending the final disposition of the case.

Carl Riley, Saggese’s boss and the Plainfield police director, said:

“I, of course, am very disappointed regarding the circumstances, and I’m sure his colleagues are disappointed as well.”

MtGox Depleted of Bitcoins by 2013 Says New Wizsec Report

According to a new report from Wizsec, the Tokyo based bitcoin security firm which has been conducting an ongoing unofficial investigation into MtGox’s collapse, MtGox had been depleted of most of its bitcoin by 2013.

The theft had been ongoing since 2011 and many of the missing bitcoins were stolen straight out of MtGox’s hot wallet, which led MtGox to be operating on a fractional reserve since at least 2012.

Former Yahoo! Executive and Hightail CEO Joins Ripple as COO

Brad Garlinghouse, the former CEO of Hightail and a long-time executive of Yahoo!, has been appointed as Ripple’s first Chief Operating Officer.

Ripple Labs CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen said:

“Brad’s experience will be invaluable as we advance our focus from building a strong pipeline to execution and exceptional growth […]. We share a vision for the future of finance and the creation of an Internet of Value in which value exchange is as fast, free, transparent and secure as information exchange is on the Internet today.”

South American Bitcoin Exchange SurBTC Launches with Funding from Chilean Government

Chile-based Bitcoin company SurBTC recently launched the South American country’s first Bitcoin exchange. SurBTC hopes to be a safe and reliable way for Chileans to access and invest in bitcoin. Interestingly, the startup found support from the Chilean government receiving US$40,000 as part of one of the state’s startup initiatives.

BitStraat Launches Handheld BTC Payments Terminal

Dutch startup BitStraat targets bars and restaurants with the introduction of its new handheld bitcoin payments terminal. BitStraat now has two different types of payment processors in its range.

BitStraat co-founder, Max Barendregt, said:

“We listened closely to the feedback our customers were giving us on our first payments terminal. Several of them told us they preferred a terminal that was better suited to carry around. So we created a version that is easy to handle, has a battery life of up to a week, and is very durable.”

Iconic Brand for Cryptocurrency Chosen as Winner of ‘Brand me Crypto’ Campaign Announced

The winning design selected by fans from across four continents was created by Teresa Ledford from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States who will be named on open brand licensing rights and will receive a US$10,000 prize.

“Cryptocurrency is arguably one of the most compelling new technologies of our time and is quickly making its way into the mainstream,” said Chantel Meeley, Head of Marketing and Creative at Vogogo. “Cryptocurrency however isn’t just represented by Bitcoin. While Bitcoin has gained the greatest traction to date, there are numerous Crypto Coins in existence. Creative teams involved in the entire industry which try to visually articulate Cryptocurrency as a whole have, up to now, been presented with a very unique challenge as it has no overarching brand.”

OneBit App Could Bring Bitcoins to MasterCard PayPass Terminals

A group of developers at the MasterCard Masters of Code Hackathon created an application that enables the use of bitcoins through MasterCard’s PayPass technology at NFC enabled terminals.

Explaining how the app works, OneBit’s CEO Toby Hoenisch said:

“Imagine a simple Bitcoin wallet. When you want to pay in a restaurant, you just take your phone and tap it on the NFC enabled payment terminal (very common in Europe and Singapore). The magic that happens underneath is done by BitPay who converts your Bitcoin and MasterCard, who sends the money to the restaurant.”

BTCChina launches new trading platform

BTCChina has launched a new trading platform, MrGekko, which will allow sophisticated order entry to major bitcoin exchanges. This will include more than 60 technical indicators, such as market, limit, stop-loss, trailing-profit and profit orders.

BTCChina users will be able to trade on multiple exchanges by logging in through their BTCChina account. They will also be able to place orders on multiple exchanges simultaneously, in order to conduct arbitrage.

EverDreamSoft to Use Counterparty Assets to Fund Development of New Game

EverDreamSoft, the company behind mobile trading card game Moonga, has committed to building a new game they view as transforming the free-to-play genre. The game is to be called Spells of Genesis, and interestingly, EverDreamSoft plans to use Counterparty assets to fund development.

As stated on the Spells of Genesis website:

“BitCrystals are Counterparty assets acting as both the game-fuel and the premium in-game currency. There is a limited supply of BitCrystals which can be used (burned) to create new card packs or traded with other players in Spells of Genesis.”

Greek Prime Minister to Seize Public-Sector Funds

In a move that shows some similarity to the bank confiscations on Cyprus in 2013, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsiparas ordered local governments in Greece to move their funds to the country's central bank. The decree to confiscate reserves now held in commercial banks is hailed by a large segment of the Bitcoin community as yet another example of how bank deposits are not a secure store of wealth, as they can in fact be confiscated by central authorities at any time.

The bank confiscations on Cyprus in 2013 are generally regarded as one of the reasons the bitcoin exchange rate shot up to some US$260 in April of that year.