Author Archives: Startup365

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Chaque jour nous vous présenterons une nouvelle Startup française ! Notre pays regorge de talents et d'entrepreneurs brillants ! Alors partons à la découverte des meilleures startup françaises ! Certaines d'entre elles sont dans une étape essentielle dans la vie d'une startup : la recherche de financement, notamment par le financement participatif (ou crowdfunding en anglais). Alors participez à cette grande aventure en leur faisant une petite donation ! Les startups françaises ont besoin de vous !

#USA TaxScouts, the UK startup that helps prepare your taxes, picks up £1.2M led by SpeedInvest

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TaxScouts, the U.K. “tax preparation” startup founded by TransferWise and Marketinvoice alumni, has created some new paperwork of its own. The London-based company has raised £1.2 million in seed funding.

Leading the new round is SpeedInvest, with participation from Finch Capital and SeedCamp. It adds to £300,000 in pre-seed investment that TaxScouts announced six months ago.

Combining “automation” with a network of human accountants, TaxScouts’ service is designed to support you through your annual tax filing preparation and submission. However, the headline draw is that the company charges a flat fee of £99 if you pay in advance, and promises a turn-around of just 24 hours.

To achieve this, the web app walks you through your tax status, income and expenses without assuming too much prior knowledge. This includes asking you to upload or take a photo of any required documents, such as invoices or dividend certificates. The idea is that all of the admin is captured digitally and packaged up ready for an assigned accountant to check.

Last year, I took the service for a spin, the first time in years that I haven’t left my tax return to the last minute. The accountant assigned to me was helpful and his advice seemed quite good. Most importantly, the communication was speedy, both over text and in a call we needed to have to talk through the pros and cons of two alternative ways to expense a car for work.

Meanwhile, I’m told accountants like the service, too, as it potentially enables small practices to scale and therefore take on more clients. Powering this is TaxScouts’ client management system for accountants, which the startup claims is saving 3-5 days of work per month for its accounting partners.

To that end, TaxScouts says it hopes to quadruple its network of accountant partners by the end of 2019. Its longer term aim is reduce the workload of accountants by 80 percent through further “process automation and digital data processing”.

“With an ever increasing amount of people in the UK experiencing non-standard income and with late fines amounting to billions last tax season alone, the time is better than ever to fundamentally redefine the experience,” says Anthony Danon, Principal at SpeedInvest.

“TaxScouts has built automation that brings simplicity, speed and convenience through a unique approach that creates shared value across taxpayers and accountants. We are excited to be backing such a product-minded team that has led product and engineering in some of U.K.’s best fintech startup stories”.

from Startups – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2T7zgOi

#USA Axa Venture Partners raises $150 million early-stage fund

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Axa Venture Partners, the venture capital arm of insurance company Axa, is raising an early-stage fund. Today’s new $150 million fund (€130 million) is called AVP Early Stage II.

Previously, Axa Venture Partners had raised a $110 million early-stage fund back in 2015. So far, it has invested in 40 companies, such as Hackajob, K4Connect, Futurae or Zenjob and Happytal.

When it comes to investment strategy, Axa Venture Partners plans to invest in early startups based in Europe, North America and Israel with this new fund. The firm will invest as much as $6 million per company.

Axa Venture Partners also operates a growth fund and invests in other funds through a fund of funds. And the firm has offices in Paris, London, San Francisco and New York.

from Startups – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2Mst9BW

#Blockchain Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers

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Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers

A South Korean crypto exchange mistakenly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies due to an error during an airdrop. Some users immediately sold the coins, causing the prices of a number of cryptocurrencies on the exchange to sharply fall. The exchange said, however, that the majority of customers have agreed to return the funds.

Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations

Airdrop Error

Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to CustomersSouth Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinzest reportedly sent its customers BTC and other cryptocurrencies while trying to airdrop WGT tokens. The exchange posted a notice on its website that at approximately 18:30 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18:

The WGT token airdrop process caused a computer error that incorrectly reflected the deposit details of some customers’ assets … we took measures to immediately check the server to prevent any additional damage as a result of the sales and purchases of some misappropriated assets by some customers.

The exchange’s computer program “allocated a particular cryptocurrency to the event,” Sedaily explained on Monday, noting that “Coinzest originally tried to airdrop 30,000 WGT coins, but accidentally entered data to airdrop other coins.”

Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers

An official of the exchange said that about 400 members were supposed to receive WGT tokens, Hankyung publication reported, adding that other cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH were sent to members’ wallets. The news outlet elaborated that “about 10 members tried to sell about KRW 600 million worth [~$530,000] of cryptocurrencies or to withdraw money in Korean won even though they recognized the mistake of depositing money and computer errors. [Therefore] there has been a problem of rapid price decline.”

The price of BTC and a number of other cryptocurrencies on Coinzest subsequently plummeted at about 7 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18, with BTC’s price falling to 999,000 won (~$883) from over 4 million won.

Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers
Prices of cryptocurrencies on Coinzest at about 6 p.m. Korean time on Jan. 18. Image credit: Blockinpress/Coinpan.
Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers
Image credit: Sedaily

Asking Customers to Return Coins

After detecting the problem, Coinzest immediately halted trading and performed a server checkup, according to a notice on its website. It then resumed trading the next day. “The asset and transaction information was restored to 18:33:18 on the 18th, the last time a normal transaction occurred before the computer error occurred,” the exchange clarified. Hankyung detailed:

Coinzest immediately contacted the customers and asked them to return their assets. The majority of the members promised to return [them].

Coinzest CEO Jeon Jong-hee was quoted by the publication as saying, “I am extremely sorry that I have caused an unexpected computational error to customers … I am very sorry for my customers.” He added that his exchange’s emergency response system will be strengthened to prevent the problem from recurring.

Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers

An official of another cryptocurrency exchange commented that the fact that a staff’s mistake can lead to this error means “there is always a possibility of tampering with the exchange system,” Sedaily reported. He further asserted that the government will not be able to trust exchanges to manage transaction records.

In April last year, another South Korean crypto exchange, Cashierest, suffered an internal system error that allowed its users to withdraw more coins than they requested.

What do you think of Coinzest’s airdrop error? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinzest, Blockinpress, and Coinpan.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News http://bit.ly/2U5MAD5 Airdrop Mishap Causes Korean Exchange to Accidentally Send BTC to Customers

#Blockchain How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously

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How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously

Buying bitcoin is not a revolutionary act. Nor should it be. And yet the way statists, apparatchiks and politicians bang on, you’d think the mere act of acquiring digital currency was akin to receiving the keys to a pandora’s box in which lurks every illicit artifact known to man. One day, these dinosaurs will begrudgingly concede that buying bitcoin is no more seditious than buying a soda with a $20 bill. But until then, you’ll want to preserve your privacy when acquiring cryptocurrency.

Also read: Wasabi’s Privacy-Focused BTC Wallet Aims to Make Bitcoin Fungible Again

Buy Your Bitcoin, Keep Your Privacy

The reasons why you might want to keep bitcoin ownership to yourself don’t require rehashing. Put simply, though, it’s no one’s damn business what you want to do with your money or how you wish to store your wealth. In the future, governmental scrutiny of bitcoin ownership will look as archaic and benighted as state intrusion into the religious or sexual preferences of its citizens. By the time that day comes, bitcoin may be worth a lot more than it is today. The steps you take to preserve your privacy in the present, therefore, may prove particularly precious in the future. Just think about 2011 bitcoiners who had no need to conceal their ownership at the time, only to find themselves sitting ducks once those bitcoins multiplied 3,000x by 2017.

How to Buy Bitcoin AnonymouslyAnonymously buying bitcoin in small amounts is relatively easy, though getting your hands on larger quantities without having to jump through hoops can be harder. Just as it’s common practice to use fake personal details when signing into public wifi, the same can be done when buying bitcoin through ATMs and terminals such as the newly repurposed Coinstar machines. Doing so will require a burner phone or a secondary SIM card that isn’t tied to your real world identity. Alternatively, search for “receive SMS online” to find links to services that will provide you with a one-time number.

Buying Bitcoin in Person

In addition to BATMs, which can be used to buy a few hundred bucks’ worth of crypto at a time, P2P sites like Localbitcoins.com enable you to locate sellers in your area and meet them in person. Better still, if you have acquaintances who work in the cryptocurrency industry or mine crypto, you should be able to purchase bitcoin directly from them, since they’ll be obliged to periodically liquidate some of their coins for fiat to cover living expenses. Newly mined coins are particularly precious (which is why they’ve been known to fetch a premium on OTC markets) because they have no history associated with them.

How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously

Purchasing bitcoin face-to-face (or face-to-ATM) brings its own risks, of course, particularly from a privacy perspective. If you would prefer it that no one knew of your business – not the miner you’re buying crypto from, nor the surveillance cameras watching you feed banknotes into the BATM in the 7/11 – you’d be better served transacting online. While this removes the ability to transact in cash, there are privacy gains to be made elsewhere.

Anonymously Buying Bitcoin Online

Finding a bitcoin marketplace that won’t KYC the hell out of you isn’t easy, but there is one platform that stands out from all the boot-licking exchanges willing to do the government’s bidding. Its name is Bisq, and what it lacks in liquidity and spot prices, it makes up for in privacy. The range of payment methods the P2P marketplace accepts is extensive: face-to-face is even an option, if you’re fortunate enough to live within range of a seller. Generally speaking, you’ll need to make payment using an e-wallet or bank transfer. While this entails certain compromises from a privacy perspective, it’s easy to disguise the nature of the transaction using a generic banking reference such as “Car” or “Video editing.”

How to Buy Bitcoin AnonymouslyJust as Localbitcoins.com will connect you with sellers willing to meet face-to-face, it will link you online in a manner similar to Bisq. Once again, if paying by bank transfer, you can put whatever you like on the pay-in reference, as most sellers do, as putting “bitcoin” on a bank reference is asking for account suspension. (This will change one day, but by the time it does, banks will no longer be relevant and will be begging bitcoiners for business.) It’s easy to set up a Localbitcoins account using a private email account, such as Protonmail, and a fake social media account and burner number if you’re particularly cautious. Hodl Hodl is another P2P market where verification is optional rather than enforced. The number of available offers is low, but Hodl Hodl has a wider range of cryptocurrencies including XMR and EOS.

Buy Privately Then Stay Private

Anonymity measures shouldn’t end the moment you’ve bought bitcoin. It’s an ongoing mindset that calls for using privacy-centric wallets such as Wasabi, avoiding sending funds to exchanges that enforce KYC, and also avoiding address reuse. But those are all topics we’ll cover in one of our next “How To” guides. Like bitcoin itself, privacy is likely to become an increasingly precious commodity in the years to come. The steps you take now to preserve yours will pay future dividends.

What other platforms do you recommend for buying bitcoin without KYC? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News http://bit.ly/2W9pA8b How to Buy Bitcoin Anonymously

#Africa The hows, whens and whys of scaling your African tech startup

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Spend more than a minute or two in any co-working space, at any ecosystem event, and  you will hear mention of the pivotal word – “scaling”.

Some startups, especially those serving lower income segments, have to do it. Many raise millions of dollars funding in order to do it. Some fail trying to do it. Either way, doing it or not, it is a key part of any startup-focused discussion.

Scaling is also fraught with hazards. Though it is easy to assume that every African startup should wish to expand into new markets, there are good reasons why it is not the right path for every business.

Not “when”, but “if”

Bernard Wright is the founder of Ugandan startup Geo Gecko, which uses tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), satellite imagery, drones and cloud computing to provide evidence and insight in data-starved environments, and has acquired customers all over the world.

He says scaling a startup is not a question of “when”, but “if”.

“Scaling up should be a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. There are plenty of businesses that can’t be scaled up, like many consulting services,” Wright said.

Geo Gecko scaled slowly, with Wright saying the team wanted to see a variety of things come into play before it thought about expanding outside of its home market.

“Firstly, we see a demand in the market that is not being met. Secondly, we have developed information products that we can produce at scale to meet that demand. Thirdly, we have the internal systems, and the processes, like a salary scale, to manage that scale without losing track or compromising on company principles. Finally, we want to be first to the market with our flagship products,” he said.

Secure your home market first

Marcello Schermer heads up expansion at South African fintech startup Yoco, which raised a US$16 million Series B round last year to move into new markets and verticals. He said startups should only expand into other countries when they have a good enough grip on their home market.

“You need to make sure that your team, processes and distribution in your home market are solid enough so that you can focus on a new market while growing your home market,” he said.

This view is echoed by Schalk Nolte, chief executive officer (CEO) of South African security startup Entersekt, which has seen great success overseas. Before startups move abroad, it is key to ensure they “dominate” their home market.

“To get that right, it’s ideal that your organisation is mature enough in terms of people, product and operations to free up your best people. If founders are still part of the business, it’s preferable to involve them as they have the experience to figure out how a market works and getting it off the ground, whilst not affecting your home market,” he said.

“Having two startups to look after, by entering a new market while you are not ready, can add tremendous strain on your organisation and yourselves as founders, so avoid it if you can.”

Too early vs too late

Timing is key, and founders must get it right if they are to avoid attempting to scale too early, or even too late. Both are possible, and it is hard to find the sweet spot, said Wright.

“Too early and you risk going to market with a product that is not ready and tipping off better-funded competitors to your concept. If you need to bring in investment to scale up, you risk undervaluing your product; a potential product is valued lower than a developed one with sales,” he said.

“Too late and you’ll lose out on potential sales or someone else may make it to market first.”

The history books are littered with examples of startups that got their timing wrong, according to Marcus Swanepoel, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange Luno, which is active in various markets across Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia.

“Too early is quite common in the US as people raise too much money before they have proper product-market fit, but often in emerging markets startups can’t raise a lot of money in the early stages so it’s less likely they scale too fast. They will often suffer from the opposite – scaling too late or too slow. Because it might take more time to raise money, they might not have access to the expertise to help scale. What essentially happens then is that competitors that can scale faster beat them before they’ve even had a chance to play,” he said.

How to choose new markets

If a startup decides it is ready to scale, and thinks it has got the timing right, then it has to decide where to scale to. Schermer said the right destination will depend on the type of business.

“You need to have a deep understanding around what market conditions drive your business and look for markets that show those market conditions. Especially in Africa, that research needs to be done on the ground as it’s the only way to really understand a market,” he said.

For Wright, new markets are chosen based on demand, but he said startups must be aware of the challenges that emerge around scaling to new markets.

“Our industry comes across as technical and complicated. It requires time and attention to clarify to a customer how these products can work for them and that they are actually quite straightforward to interact with. As we move into new markets, we have to keep working on making our products accessible to a variety of customers with different skill levels,” he said.

“We’re scaling up and moving into new markets with a low cost, high frequency product. This necessitates a change in how we work and market our work. That means less interaction with customers, and a need for incredibly clear explanations of our analysis and products, and a great user experience off the bat.”

What also changes is the team.

“When you start, the founders and first core team members step-by-step create a company culture that is largely a reflection of their own personalities and interactions. As you grow and professionalise, company culture moves into a shared understanding of what is important to the team and the company and how you want to work together to achieve your goals,” said Wright.

“To cement this, you need to be purposeful in communicating continuously and more explicitly to new hires what values the company holds and what its goals are.”

The post The hows, whens and whys of scaling your African tech startup appeared first on Disrupt Africa.

from Disrupt Africa http://bit.ly/2sFIxBO

#USA After raising $125M, Munchery fails to deliver

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On-demand food delivery startup Munchery is ceasing operations effective immediately, the startup announced in an e-mail to customers on Monday.

Founded in 2010, the San Francisco-based business had raised a total of $125 million in venture capital funding, reaching a valuation of $300 million with an $87 million round in 2015, according to PitchBook. Munchery was backed by Greycroft, ACME Ventures (formerly known as Sherpa Capital), Menlo Ventures, e.Ventures, Cota Capital, M13 and more.

“Since 2010, we have been committed to bringing fresh, local, and delicious meals into your homes along with all our customers across the country,” the company wrote in today’s e-mail announcement. “We’ve been delighted to work with world-renowned chefs, experiment with diverse and unique ingredients and recipes, and be a part of your holiday feasts and traditions. We have also enjoyed giving back to our community through meal donations, volunteer service, and so much more.”

The news comes as little surprise considering Munchery laid off 257 employees, or 30 percent of its workforce, in May after shutting down its Seattle, Los Angeles and New York operations. At the time, the company said it planned to double down on its biggest market, San Francisco, which would help it “achieve profitability on the near term, and build a long-term, sustainable business.”

Munchery, however, failed to deliver on those promises. On top of the 2018 layoffs, Munchery for years struggled to navigate the challenging plains of on-demand food delivery. To stay afloat, the startup shape-shifted quite a bit from originally launching as a ready-to-eat meal delivery service to delivering meal-kits to creating an $8.95 a month subscription plan for repeat customers and finally, opening up a shop inside a San Francisco BART station in a bid to win over the commuter crowd.

Munchery is just the latest in a line of food delivery startups to shutter. Doughbies, an on-demand cookie delivery business, closed its doors in 2018. Sprig, Maple and Josephine are amongst the others to falter under the pressure of a crowded market.

Munchery didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Doughbies’ cookie crumbles in a cautionary tale of venture scale

from Startups – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2R7aex8

#Blockchain Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software

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Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com's Golden Ticket Software

Have you ever thought about creating a cryptocurrency giveaway during a hosted event? Now you can create your own crypto-based sweepstakes with Bitcoin.com’s event paper wallet generator. With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket program and open source code, the software allows anyone to develop fantastic tickets funded with bitcoin cash (BCH).

Also Read: Peer-to-Peer Trading Platform Bitquick Implements Bitcoin Cash Support

Create Your Own Bitcoin Cash Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software

At Bitcoin.com we love to spread cryptocurrency awareness. In order to further grow adoption in a fun way this month, we decided to publish the open source Bitcoin.com Golden Ticket repository which can be found on Github. The code allows anyone with a light knowledge of terminal command prompts to create amazing giveaway tickets loaded with BCH. The Golden Ticket platform allows the creator to choose a custom mnemonic language or Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) key creation. But it also generates HTML, pdf, and a spreadsheet mapping of the Cashddr format, Privkey, and index the swept status of each golden ticket. Alongside this, the giveaway ticket creators can redeem unswept BCH after a certain period of time.

Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com's Golden Ticket Software
Spread adoption with Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket.

Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket program requires the installation of Nodejs LTS version 8 and use of the computer’s terminal application to run command lines. After Nodejs has been added, the user simply clones the Golden Ticket Github repo and installs the dependencies. There are seven actions within the workflow, comprising generating a wallet, creating addresses, initiating a CSV, funding the mothership address, funding secondary addresses, generating stats, and lastly reclaiming the funds that were unswept.

How to Create Custom Golden Tickets

Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com's Golden Ticket Software
Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket app requires Nodejs and a little terminal prompt knowledge.

The first thing to do is generate a 256-bit mnemonic and BIP44 BCH address by typing “npm run generate-wallet” into the terminal. After that, you will be prompted to choose a language out of the eight available. If you don’t enter a language, the Golden Ticket program will default to English.

Following this choice, you should choose an HD path. If nothing custom is chosen, it will default to the BIP44 account of your mnemonic: m/44’/145’/0′. From here you can choose a custom name for the giveaway ticket event or choose to leave it as is and let the name default to “Golden Ticket.” After the name is chosen, it will write to the owner’s mnemonic, HD Path, and the mothership address. The address, called the mothership, is the address an individual or organization funds in order to fund all the other generated addresses.

Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com's Golden Ticket Software

After running the command line “npm run create-addresses” the program will prompt the creator for an event name, HD Account and an address count. You can verify the addresses created by typing “npm run create-csv” and follow this step by funding the mothership address. Our Golden Ticket program shows the mothership’s written alphanumeric address alongside a QR code that’s easy to fund. After the waller is loaded, simply type “npm run fund-addresses” to begin adding bitcoin cash to the satellite addresses tethered to the mothership.

From here, the lotto tickets can be printed on paper or card material in order to hand out at an event. After the event finishes, you can simply run the Golden Ticket software and enter “npm run generate-stats” into the terminal to generate basic stats about the event’s tickets. If a lot of people in the crowd decided not to sweep the bitcoin cash into a mobile wallet or desktop client at home, the mothership can have funds sent back after a certain period of time. If the creator wishes, the custom giveaway tickets can have a disclaimer on them explaining there is a time frame for redemption.

Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com's Golden Ticket Software
We gave away Golden Tickets loaded with BCH at the Libertycon 2019 event in Washington D.C.

Giveaways generate a lot of excitement and we think funded tickets with the best peer-to-peer cash system in the world go hand in hand with cool events. Bitcoin.com recently gave out a ton of Golden Tickets to participants at Liberty Con 2019 in Washington D.C. and the initiative was a great success. If you want to learn how to make your very own bitcoin cash-funded Golden Tickets then check out our repository for more instructions on installation and funding.

What do you think about Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket software? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image credits: Bitcoin.com, Twitter, David L. Wolper, Creative Commons, and Nodejs. 

Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section.

The post Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News http://bit.ly/2MmoGk1 Host a BCH Giveaway With Bitcoin.com’s Golden Ticket Software

#Blockchain Mastermind Who Planned Iceland’s Biggest Bitcoin Heist Jailed for 4.5 Years

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Last year, Sindri Stefansson was arrested for his part in what has been described as the biggest heist Iceland has seen – over $2 million worth of Bitcoin mining equipment stolen in an operation that left police baffled. He has now been jailed for four and a half years along with his team of thieves. 

Also read: Iceland’s ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’: Suspects Charged With Over $2M in Stolen Mining Rigs

‘Big Bitcoin Heist’

Sindri Por Stefansson hit headlines last year after managing to escape from his jail cell following his arrest for stealing millions of dollars of mining equipment. Local media have since reported that he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment last week. His six other partners in crime were jailed for a total of nine years and seven months. Advania, the mining company that the gear was stolen from, received over $200,000 in compensation.

Mastermind Who Planned Iceland's Biggest Bitcoin Heist Jailed for 4.5 Years

The crime, dubbed the ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’ by the media, saw the men steal over 600 mining computers from Advania. The equipment has yet to be recovered. Stefansson managed to escape from Sogn prison and board a flight to Stockholm at the international airport in Keflavik. According to police, he was using someone else’s passport. In an even stranger twist, Stefansson found himself on the same plane as the country’s prime minister while on the run. He was later arrested in Amsterdam.

In an interview with the New York Times, Stefansson said he was looking at international flights on his phone – which weren’t prohibited in his prison – before he booked one and climbed out of his low-security jail cell window. After hitchhiking to Keflavik, he grabbed a plane from the country’s largest airport to Stockholm and from there got to Amsterdam via train, bus and taxi.

Not the First Heist

Stefansson’s case made headlines around the world because low-crime Iceland, with its population of little over 338,000, is a difficult place to be a fugitive – let alone flee from. In the heist, Stefansson and his crew were reportedly able to steal 225 fully functional Bitmain mining rigs with the help of an insider, and wore security uniforms as part of their deception.

It wasn’t their first attempt to steal from bitcoin miners, either. In December 2017 the group had stolen 100 mining rigs from Algrim Consulting and later tried to steal from the Borealis Data Center (BDC), but were unable to get away with their haul after they set off an alarm. Police revealed the group also tried to steal from BDC Mines a couple of days later but again failed, though were successful at the Borgarnes mining facility. There was a further attempt at BDC Mines but alarms again foiled their plans. Iceland has become a hotspot for bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining due its large amount of renewable energy and cold weather which helps keeps computers cool.

What do you think about the Icelandic mining thieves and their sentencing? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below.

Images via Shutterstock and the Reykjavík Metropolitan Police.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post Mastermind Who Planned Iceland’s Biggest Bitcoin Heist Jailed for 4.5 Years appeared first on Bitcoin News.

from Bitcoin News http://bit.ly/2FQigZq Mastermind Who Planned Iceland’s Biggest Bitcoin Heist Jailed for 4.5 Years

#Blockchain Falcon Private Bank Launches Crypto Wallet With Support for Direct BTC and BCH Transfers

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Falcon Private Bank Lauches Crypto Wallet with Support for Direct Transfers of BTC and BCH

Switzerland’s Falcon Private Bank has introduced a cryptocurrency wallet as well as support for direct transfers of BTC, BCH, ETH and LTC for private and institutional investors. The bank said investors can now directly transfer cryptocurrencies to and from its own “segregated Falcon wallets.” They can also convert their digital coins into cash.

Also read: Chile to Start Taxing Cryptocurrency Earnings in Second Quarter of 2019

‘Fully Bankable Blockchain Assets’

Falcon Private Bank Lauches Crypto Wallet with Support for Direct Transfers of BTC and BCHIn a press release published on Jan. 21, Falcon claimed that its latest offering “makes blockchain assets fully bankable.” The Zurich-based bank also claimed to provide secure storage thanks to its “proprietary custody solution.”

“Clients can place trading orders conveniently through e-banking or a dedicated relationship manager,” said Falcon. “Digital assets are included in portfolio statements as well as in tax reporting documents.”

The bank stated it had developed a process that ensures full compliance with Switzerland’s anti-money laundering and know-your-customer laws and regulations. It claimed to have a multi-level protection that covers hardware, software, and transaction processes. “Our custody solution has been audited and reviewed by independent providers,” Falcon detailed.

Martin Keller, chief executive officer of the Swiss private bank, commented:

Falcon has … demonstrated its expertize … in the digital assets space by merging traditional private banking services with innovative financial solutions.

 Progressive Switzerland Allows Crypto Firms to Flourish

Founded in 1965 as Ueberseebank, Falcon Private Bank is Switzerland’s 26th largest foreign-controlled bank by total assets. The bank has more than $15 billion worth of client assets under management and has offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, London and Zurich.

It was licensed as a bitcoin asset management company by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) in July 2017. However, the bank has reportedly set its minimum bitcoin investment threshold at two million Swiss francs ($2 million), cutting off many Swiss citizens from investing through it.

Falcon Private Bank Launches Crypto Wallet With Support for Direct BTC and BCH Transfers

Switzerland has taken a progressive stance toward cryptocurrencies by legalizing their use and formalizing crypto transactions in a range of different contexts. But some crypto projects still struggle to open bank accounts, and cryptocurrency-focused bankers and investors still complain about a relative lack of regulatory clarity, as it remains unclear whether cryptocurrencies can be considered legal tender in certain contexts.

Switzerland sees virtual money and blockchain technology as strategic innovations in global finance. It is therefore determined to maintain and expand the jobs it has to offer in the field. The country’s tax regulator views cryptocurrencies as assets that should be subject to wealth taxes and declared on annual tax returns.

What do you think about Falcon Bank’s new offering? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

Express yourself freely at Bitcoin.com’s user forums. We don’t censor on political grounds. Check forum.Bitcoin.com

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#USA Roger Dickey ditches $32M-funded Gigster to start Untitled Labs

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Most founders don’t walk away from their startup after raising $32 million and reaching 1000 clients. But Roger Dickey’s heart is in consumer tech, and his company Gigster had pivoted to doing outsourced app development for enterprises instead of scrappy entrepreneurs.

So today Dickey announced that he’d left his role as Gigster CEO, with former VMware VP Christopher Keane who’d sold it his startup WaveMaker coming in to lead Gigster in October. Now, Dickey is launching Untitled Labs, a “search lab” designed to test multiple consumer tech ideas in “social and professional networking, mobility, personal finance, premium services, health & wellness, travel, photography, and dating” before building out one

Untitled Labs is starting off with $2.8 million in seed funding from early Gigster investors and other angels including Founders Fund, Felicia Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Joe Montana’s Liquid Ventures, Ashton Kutcher, Nikita Bier of TBH (acquired by Facebook), and Zynga co-founder Justin Waldron.

Investors lined up after seeing the success of Dickey’s last two search labs. In 2007, his Curiosoft lab revamped classic DOS game Drugwars as a Facebook game called Dopewars and sold it to Zynga where it became the wildly popular Mafia Wars. He did it again in 2014, building Gigster out of Liquid Labs and eventually raising $32 million for it in rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz and Redpoint. Dickey had proven he wasn’t just dicking around and his search labs could experiment their way to an A-grade startup.

“I loved learning about B2B but over the years I realized my true passions were in consumer and I kinda got the itch to try something new” Dickey tells me. “These things happen in the life-cycle of a company. The person who starts it isn’t always the same person to take it to an IPO. Gigster’s doing incredibly well. It was just a really vanilla separation in the best interest of all parties.”

Gigster co-founders (from left): Debo Olaosebikan and Roger Dickey

Gigster’s remaining co-founder and CTO Debo Olaosebikan will stay with the startup, but tells me he’ll be “moving away from a lot of the day-to-day management.” He’ll be in a more public facing role, evangelizing the vision of digital transformation to big clients hoping Gigster can equip them with the apps their customers demand. “We’ve gotten to a really good place on the backs of the founders and to get it to the next level inside of enterprise, having people who’ve done this, lived this, worked in enterprise for a long time makes sense for the company.”

Olaosebikan and Dickey both confirm there was no misconduct or other funny business that triggered the CEO’s departure, and he’ll stay on the Gigster board. Dickey tells me that Gigster’s business managing teams of freelance product managers, engineers, and designers to handle product development for big clients has grown revenue every quarter. It now has 1200 clients including almost 10% of Fortune 500 companies. Olaosebikan says “We have a great repeatable sales model. We can grow profitably and then we can figure out financing. We’re not in a hurry to raise money.”

Since leaving Gigster, Dickey has been meeting with investors and entrepreneurs to noodle on what’s in their “idea shelf” — the product and company concepts these techies imagine but are too busy to implement themselves. Meanwhile, he’s seeking a few elite engineers and designers to work through Untitled’s prospects.

Dickey said he came up with the “search labs” definition since he and others had found success with the strategy that no one had formalized. The search labs model contrasts with three other ways people typically form startups:

  • Traditional Startup: Founders come up with one idea and raise from venture firms to build it into a company that’s quick to start and lets them keep a lot of equity, but these startups often fail because they lack product market fit. Examples: Facebook, SpaceX.
  • Startup Accelerators and Incubators: Founders come up with one idea and enter an accelerator or incubator that provides funding and education for lots of startups in exchange for a small slice of equity. Founders sometimes learn their idea won’t work and pivot during the program, which is why accelerators seek to fund great teams, but otherwise operate traditionally. Examples: Y Combinator, 500 Startups.
  • Startup Studio: The studios’ founders work with entrepreneurs to come up with a small number of ideas while keeping a significant of the equity. The entrepreneurs operate semi-autonomously but with the advantage of shared resources. Examples: Expa, Betaworks.
  • Search Lab: Founders conceptualize and experiment with a small number of startup ideas, then focus the company around the most promising prototype. Examples: Untitled Labs, Midnight Labs (turned into TBH)

Dickey tells me that after 80 angel investments, going to every recent Y Combinator Demo Day, and talking with key players across the industry, the search lab method was the best way to hone in on his best idea rather than just going on a hunch. Given that approach, he went with “Untitled” so he could save the branding work for when the right product emerges. Dickey concludes “We’re trying to keep it really barebones. We don’t have an office, don’t have a logo, and we’re not going to make swag. We’re just going to find the next business as efficiently as possible.”

from Startups – TechCrunch https://tcrn.ch/2R4j7Y5