There are quite some intriguing developments to be found in the world of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Parity Technologies has released their Bitcoin technology stacks, which also features a new implementation of the Bitcoin protocol. This client is focused on performance and reliability. Now is a good time to take a closer look at that what the Parity Bitcoin client is all about.

It is not surprising to find out a lot of people have no idea what the big deal is regarding this project. Parity Technologies is a business venture comprising of a large number of developers who created Ethereum and its commercial implementation. This team has also taken a keen interest in bringing improvements to the Bitcoin protocol, as it suffers from issues regarding performance and reliability, in their opinion.

What the Parity Bitcoin client does is address these problems and do so in an open manner. The source code of the project can be found on GitHub, which allows anyone in the world to build on top of this existing codebase moving forward. The entire project has been built from scratch, with a strong focus on proper software development. Moreover, it is fully compliant with the legacy Bitcoin implementation.

It is also worth mentioning the project is written in the Rust coding language, which is both fast and secure at the time same. In fact, the ZCash team has been using Rust as well in recent months. This new coding language offers speed improvements at any code and seems capable of allowing developers to introduce a lot of new features in the future.

Moreover, quite a few parties have been supportive of the development of the Parity Bitcoin client. F2Pool, Bitmain, and Bixin are some of the initial sponsors of this venture. Parity Technologies is a VC-funded enterprise, and their Parity Ethereum client has received a lot of praise since its release. Moreover, the Ethereum client can be integrated directly into a browser, and the same now applies to its Bitcoin counterpart.

While the Parity Bitcoin client is mainly designed as the new go-to solution for developers, it is also a good addition to the list of alternative protocol implementations. We have highlighted several of those implementations in the past, including the likes of Bcoin, btcd, and others. A growing diversity of bitcoin protocol implementations can only be seen as a positive development.

Moreover, the Parity bitcoin implementation can bring us one step closer to a successful integration of Schnorr signatures for bitcoin users. As we talked about earlier, Schnorr signatures provide additional features to bitcoin users all over the world. Parity Bitcoin can serve as a test bet ecosystem to test the viability of such an implementation before it becomes part of the main Bitcoin protocol.

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What is Parity Bitcoin? The Merkle - The Merkle

Bitcoin, guns, ammo, drugs, a long rap sheetand anarchy. Not a good mix, as one recent criminal case out of Arizona has proven.

A multi-agency federal task force raided local bitcoin trader, and anarchist blogger, Morpheus Titanias apartment last week.

Court documents, available online in electronic court filings and first reported by CoinDesk, demonstrate that US Magistrate Michelle Burns ordered Costanzo to remain in custody until his trial after a hearing. Costanzo is considered a serious flight risk thanks to a long history of criminal conduct and a record of prior failure to appear in court as ordered.

Morpheus, whose legal name is Thomas Mario Costanzo, was being held until his case was to be heard, but will remain in custody for longer.

According to court records, hes been charged with possession of three boxes of Winchester ammunition for an altogether 60 cartridges in different calibers. He denied ownership of the ammunition, but admitted they were in indeed his apartment, according to records, which did not say who owned them.

Thanks to a 2015 conviction in Maricopa County for a felony marijuana possession charge, Costanzo is not legally permitted to possess firearms or ammunition, and was therefore in violation of Arizona state law. Homeland Security Investigations steered a raid on April 20 of Costanzos Mesa apartment. However, it it did not have to do with his marijuana offenses nor illegal possession of guns and ammunition.

The warrant issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan sought evidence, instead, that Costanzo may have operated as an unlicensed money transmitting business, a license which requires one to go through an application process with government. Prosecutors also contend that Costanzo sold drugs and hid the profits from his operations.

Agents could seize illegal drugs, Bitcoin records and financial documents, computers, cellphones and other items. Costanzos cell phone company received a search warrant to produce tracking information on his prior whereabouts.

Freedoms Phoenix, a conspiracy website run by Libertarian activist Ernest Hancock, publishedwarrant records on Tuesday obtained by his radio showFreedoms Phoenix, for whom Costanzo worksas sales and marketing manager. Hancock said on air the two have been friends since 2003.

Photos from the raid in Mesa feature SWAT team members and other officers, as well as an armored vehicle, surrounding the Costanzos building. The apartment landlord said Costanzo has lived there alone for approximately one year. Costanzo often refers to himself online as one of the most prolific bitcoin traders in the area. Localbitcoins record show he has made more than 100 trades in four years, and has about a dozen reviews on the website.

On the bitcoin trading website, Costanzos profile reads, Hey Im Morpheus lets get together and do Bitcoin :).

His feedback score is 100%, and the first activity on the account was nearly four years ago. He is trusted by 30+ people on the website. He has apparently been active in both Florida and Arizona.

Awesome to work with! one of his customers wrote in a review.

Another wrote: MorpheusTitania is a great trader! He went above and beyond on my last trade. There was a mix-up and he waited for over an hour before we could meet. You can trade with confidence with MorpheusTitania. Costanzo thought highly of himself, as well.

Because of his rock-solid reputation, he is one of the biggest sellers in the Phoenix area, Costanzo wrote about himself in 2014 on one of his web sites, Titanians.org. Morpheus is now semi-retired as a bitcoin trader / entrepreneur.

Costanzo has been arrested numerous time and served eight months in prison in the mid-1980s after fleeing from police.

He received probation after a 2015 guilty plea for misdemeanor convictions in two marijuana cases, as well as a felony in the third, according to court records.

If Arizona had similar laws to the eight states and Washington D.C. where marijuana is legalized for adults 21 and older, Costanzo would never have been charged and convicted of possession three times, nor been stripped of his gun rights. According to local Homeland Security spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts OKeefe tells New Times, the investigation is open and active.

This is the second time in the past month Arizona has made Bitcoin and blockchain headlines. The Senate of the state of Arizona recently passed the bill, HB 2417, which was introduced by state representative Jeff Weninger on 6 February, 2017. The bill passed with a vote of 28-1 where it was then passed along to Arizonas governor Doug Ducey.

Smart contracts may exist in commerce, reads the bill. A contract relating to a transaction may not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because that contract contains a smart contract term.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

The rest is here:
Arizona Bitcoin Trader with Long Rap Sheet to Remain in Custody - CryptoCoinsNews

Creating paper wallets:

Problematic action: Create a paper wallet on a paper wallet service website without disconnecting from the internet. Reason: It's extremely insecure for many reasons, some being 1) the website is hacked with generated private keys sent to the hacker; 2) there may be malware in the browser or in the operating system that sends the private keys to the hacker. Solution: The bottom line is to disconnect the internet before creating the paper wallet. It's not secure enough because 1) the malware can save the private keys and wait for internet connection to send them out; 2) the malware can interfere with the generation process itself and give you a private key that is already known to the hacker, which is called backdooring the random number generator; 3) the private keys may exist on the hard disk therefore may be extracted by malware or after the computer is disposed. Better solution: Use a live operating system, such as a Ubuntu live CD, to run the paper wallet software. This is not ultimately bullet-proof, especially for high-value targets, because there exist malware that can hide in the BIOS and firmware of your computer and can infect your live operating system. It should be secure enough for average Joes.

Problematic action: Create a paper wallet without serious verifying. Reason: There may be incompatible issues with operating systems and browsers. Solution: Run tests on various operating systems and various browsers before putting BTC in. Make sure the generated private keys are identical. This applies to regular paper wallets and BIP38 paper wallets. Make sure the decrypted BIP38 keys are correct.

Problematic action: Use a wireless printer. Reason: It's insecure because wireless networks are insecure. Solution: Use a wired printer.

Problematic action: Use an advanced printer, which has internal storage, such as a hard drive. Reason: It is insecure because the private key of the paper wallet printed may be stored on the internal storage, therefore may be recovered if the printer is sold or scrapped. Solution: Use a dumb printer. Or smash the printer, including and especially the internal storage, or keep it locked up and never sell or scrap it.

Problematic action: Leave the printer open for other people to access after printing without turning it off. Reason: It's insecure because the private key printed may still be in the memory of the printer. Solution: Turn the printer off after printing.

Problematic action: Leave the computer untreated after printing. Reason: It's insecure because the printer driver and/or operating system may be keeping copies of the documents you print in some sort of "spool" or print queue. Solution:

Quote from https://bitcoinpaperwallet.com/#popupDelete (the popup doesn't work).

Macintosh:

Enable 'FileVault' to encrypt your filesystem so that cache files cannot be 'undeleted'. Set up a symbolic link from /private/var/spool/cups/cache/ to a removable media volume (e.g. a SD card) and disconnect it when not in use.

Windows:

Use an encrypted filesystem so that your cache files cannot be 'undeleted'. Read this FAQ on how to change the destination of your cache (spool) files to removable media.

Linux:

Use a live-boot CD instead of a regular hard drive OS install. This way when you reboot your computer, all cache files are deleted from memory and no jobs are ever written to disk.

Problematic action: Use a shared printer (at work or school, for example). Reason: It's insecure because 1) the printer may have a glitch and someone else may get your printouts; 2) the printing jobs may be centrally logged. Solution: Don't. Use your own printer.

Problematic action: Use a printer to print the private key or the QR code of the private key. Reason: See above. Solution 1: Don't use a printer for private key stuff. Hand-write the private key. Ignore the QR code since hand-drawing the QR code of the private key may be too time-consuming. Double check. Then check it again, preferably on a different day. Get someone you trust to check it. Then get him/her to check it again, preferably on a different day. (Testing the private key in a wallet app can make it sure. But it comes with risks.) Solution 2: Don't use a printer for private key stuff. Use brain wallet. Write down the passphrase and the relevant information, e.g., the name of the tool used (bitaddress.org/WarpWallet/etc.) and the instructions. Store it the same way as a paper wallet. Save and store some copies of the tool, in case the future versions become incompatible. (There are pitfalls for creating man-made passphrases. It is beyond the scope of this post. In a nutshell, don't create passphrases with your brain.)

Problematic action: Import a paper wallet private key into a wallet app, then spend directly from the paper wallet address.

Mistake: Expect the paper wallet automatically receives/holds changes, similar to a real-life wallet, which may not be the case. Reason: Early wallet apps didn't handle the changes correctly. The changes became the transaction fees of the miners. Explanation: It's a misunderstanding of how Bitcoin works. There is no account balance of any kind in Bitcoin. There is only Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO). The receiving addresses of changes, which will become the new UTXOs, must be specified when BTC is spent. Otherwise, the changes will become the transaction fees. This depends on the implementation of the wallet app, which should not be trusted.

Mistake: Think nothing is wrong if changes are handled correctly. Reason: It's called address reuse, which is not recommended in Bitcoin because 1) it reduces anonymity of both the sender and all the consecutive receivers; 2) it reduces the security by exposing the public key, which is vulnerable to quantum computing. Addresses are hashes of public keys, which are safe from quantum computing.

Mistake: Destroy the paper wallet after it's imported into an HD wallet, thinking that it has become a part of the HD wallet and it's safe to destroy because the master seed of the HD has been backed up. Reason: It is not a part of the HD wallet. If the paper wallet (the paper) is destroyed and the app is uninstalled, the BTC is gone even if the HD wallet is recovered from its master seed.

The right way: Spend (transact) all BTC in a paper wallet to an address of your wallet app. Spend BTC from there. After all the spending is finished, create a new paper wallet and transact all the remaining BTC to it. Store the new paper wallet. Keep the old one for future reference, or destroy it if you don't want the trace.

Problematic action: Destroy a paper wallet after it is used. Reason: You may need to prove you had control of that address some day, e.g., for taxation purpose. In the case of a chain split, you may have a balance on the other chain. Solution: Don't ever destroy a paper wallet. Keep it on file. Mark it with the relevant information, e.g., "Used in April 2017". Unless you don't want to be tied to the address.

Problematic action: Google a famous wallet app, click the first link or the sponsored link, download/install it, and use it, without serious research. Reason: It's insecure because the wallet app may be a scam. Solution: Do thorough research prior to deciding which wallet app to use. Find the official site prior to downloading/installing it.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

Edit: multiple editing for additions, corrections, and clarifications.

Visit link:
Summary: pitfalls of paper wallets : Bitcoin

The Cabinet of Antigua & Barbuda has instructed the Attorney General, Steadroy CutieBenjamin to draft laws for the implementation of Bitcoin.

This, after a group connected with the Antigua Leisure & Gaming Association met with Cabinet, on Wednesday, to discuss and share knowledge and experience on a new method of transacting the sale of goods and services, which is known as the Bitcoin technology.

The Cabinet has agreed to place the country on the cutting edge of this new technology.

Here in Antigua & Barbuda we know we are always very much front and centre of new developments; we are leaders, trendsetters in the Caribbean, Minister of Trade and Consumer Affairs, EPChet Greene said at the post-Cabinet briefing, yesterday.

He added that what is of interest to the country is the fact that this new currency is immutable; you can always go and trace transactions, so in the context of allegations of our country being involved in tax havens, it allows for better traceability.

The currency benefits us in Antigua & Barbuda in respect to our Internet gaming sector. It will allow us,the satisfaction needed as a jurisdiction in respect to questions that would be asked of us in the Global Environment, Greene said.

Several countries, including Korea and Japan, have already begun the process of recognising and regulating the use of the virtual currency, BitCoin, for business transactions, while other countries, such as Switzerland and Malta, are either already engaged in this technology or have given commitments to get onboard with this development.

The minister is encouraging the public to conduct online searches on BitCoin which came onstream in 2009, and has increased in value several times since it was patented.

Read more:
Latest:A&B looking to embrace Bitcoin - Antigua Observer

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 10 a.m.

A local trader of bitcoins, the popular online cryptocurrency, was a focus of a federal task force raid in Mesa last week.

BTC Bitcoin via Flickr

A multi-agency federal task force raided the Mesa apartment of local bitcoin trader Morpheus Titania last week in a case that seems ready-made for one of the suspect's anarchist-leaning blog posts.

Morpheus, whose real name is Thomas Mario Costanzo, is being held at least until Thursday, when his case has a detention hearing scheduled.

Federal court records show he's been charged so far only with possession of three boxes of Winchester ammunition, for a total of 60 cartridges "in different calibers." He denied they were his, but admitted they were in his apartment, records state.

Costanzo's not supposed to possess any firearms or ammunition because of a 2015 conviction in Maricopa County for felony marijuana possession.

Yet the April 20 raid, led by Homeland Security Investigations, had nothing to do with Costanzo being a prohibited possessor.

Thomas Mario Costanzo, a.k.a. Morpheus Titania, was detained after his April 20 arrest for 60 Winchester bullets. He's a prohibited possessor because of a 2015 felony conviction for marijuana possession.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

A warrant signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Duncan sought evidence that Costanzo may have operated an "unlicensed money transmitting business," engaged in illegal drug sales, and tried to hide any profits.

Agents were authorized to seize illegal drugs, bitcoin records and other financial documents, computers, cellphones, and other items. A separate search warrant asked Costanzo's cellphone company to produce tracking information about his prior whereabouts.

The warrant records were obtained and published on Tuesday by Freedom's Phoenix, an offbeat news-and-conspiracy website run by local Libertarian activist Ernest Hancock.Costanzo works for Freedom's Phoenixas sales and marketing manager and has been Hancock's friend since they met in 2003, Hancock said in a podcast on Friday.

Hancock didn't return an e-mail seeking comment.

The site also published photos from the raid at 417 North Loma Vista Circle in Mesa, showing heavily armed SWAT team members and other officers, and an armored vehicle.

The apartment landlord told agents that Costanzo has lived there by himself for about a year.

In various online articles, Costanzo touts himself as one of the area's most prolific traders of bitcoin, the popular crypto-currency currently trading online for nearly $1,300 per coin. Online records show he's made more than 100 trades in the past four years.

"Awesome to work with!" one of his customers wrote in a review.

"Because of his rock-solid reputation, he is one of the biggest sellers in the Phoenix area," Costanzo wrote about himself in 2014 on one of his web sites, Titanians.org. "Morpheus is now semi-retired as a bitcoin trader / entrepreneur."

The site has been a venue for writers including "visionary" physicist Bob Podolsky, and features anarchist essays, 9/11 conspiracy rants, advice on business and ethics, and plenty about bitcoin.

Costanzo ran into trouble with Arizona's stiff felony cannabis-possession law with a trio of offenses during April to December 2014. Without a medical-marijuana card, possession of any amount of pot is a felony, but prosecutors usually knock it down to a misdemeanor or offer drug treatment instead of prosecution.

Costanzo has had numerous prior arrests in recent years and served eight months in prison in the mid-1980s for fleeing from police. He wasn't offered any sweet deals. Following guilty pleas in 2015, he received probation after being convicted of misdemeanors in two of the marijuana cases and of a felony in a third, records show.

Still, despite Costanzo's bad luck or bad judgment, the heavy hand of the government that Morpheus writes about shows through in the cannabis cases. Eight states and Washington D.C. have now legalized marijuana for adults 21 and older, and if Arizona had a similar law, Costanzo wouldn't have been charged and convicted of possession three times, nor been stripped of his gun-and-ammo rights.

However, as local Homeland Security spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe tells New Times, the investigation is "open and active" meaning it's possible thatadditional charges could be forthcoming.

Where are Neo and Trinity when you need them?

Original post:
What's Really Behind the Feds' Raid of Bitcoin Trader Morpheus Titania's Home? - Phoenix New Times