Tag Archive for: cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency software bundled with BitTorrent triggers complaints

/in

Some people who use uTorrent, the popular BitTorrent client, are up in arms over the presence of cryptocurrency mining software on their computers which they say was installed without their permission.

The mining software, made by the company Epic Scale, started appearing for some people earlier this week after they updated to the latest version of uTorrent, a program made by BitTorrent for downloading files. In forums online, users have likened the software to bloatware, as it taxes their computer processor without their consent. Cryptocurrency mining software is used to release bitcoins and other digital currencies by having computers persistently perform complex mathematical calculations.

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Network World Security

Bitcoin startups pan for gold in cryptocurrency economy

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Insert a dollar, get some microbitcoins with Lamassu’s Bitcoin Machine
Sean Gallagher

In a sideshow within a marketing sideshow here at CES—the “Bitcoin pavilion” at an event called the Startup Debut—a small collection of Bitcoin-related startups showed off various attempts to capitalize (and monetize) on the interest in the crypto-currency.

One of those companies is Lamassu, the creators of a device that works the opposite way—it lets people turn hard currency into bitcoins, sent directly to their chosen address. The Bitcoin Machine, the creation of brothers and co-founders Josh and Zach Harvey, is an automated bitcoin “reverse-ATM.” Simply scan the QR code for your Bitcoin digital wallet, insert bills into the machine, and it will transfer the matching value (at current market rates) of bitcoins to you (minus a small transaction commission).

The machine runs an embedded Linux OS on an ARM processor, but the actual transactions take place on Lamassu’s servers. So far, over 130 have been sold worldwide, and 43 have been deployed everywhere from Canada to Kyrgyzstan.

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