AdGholas Malvertising Campaign Using Astrum EK to Deliver Mole Ransomware Follow the Money - Phishing Schemes Go After Cryptocurrency Exploiting the Human Factor - Proofpoint Releases Human Factor 2017 Report Microsoft Word Intruder Integrates CVE-2017-0199, Utilized by Cobalt Group to Target Financial Institutions What Election Spam Can Tell Us About Candidates and Election OutcomesThe past week saw bitcoin (BTC) rise to near-record highs above $1,230, only to fall sharply during Thursday afternoon trading.At the time of writing, one bitcoin was equivalent to $1,174.45, down 3.46 percent from Wednesday’s close and trending downward still.Bitcoin’s come a long way since its infancy in 2008.According to a recent report published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, being a bitcoin miner has become incredibly lucrative as of late.In a nutshell, the way miners generate revenue is by solving cryptographic puzzles attached to blocks of bitcoin transactions (this is also a means to confirm the transactions’ legitimacy).

For solving these puzzles, miners gain a payout — which is currently worth 12.5 bitcoin (~$14,681).That payout halves every 210,000 blocks, or about every four years.This means that, at the current rate of things, miners in 2020 will see that 12.5 BTC cut down to 6.25 BTC.But who knows what one bitcoin will be worth by then?If the price were to freeze today, that would still leave miners with a cash value of about $7,340.50 per payout.(Conversely, if this halving weren’t in place, miners would still make 50 BTC per block, or about $58,724.At the current rate, the report found that bitcoin miners globally have pulled in over $2.07 billion in cumulative revenue from payouts.Given that bitcoin wasn’t even worth over $1 until April 2011, most of this revenue has been generated in just the past few years.The report indicates the revenue generated by the bitcoin mining sector could actually be significantly higher than that estimate since the researchers didn’t take into account revenue generated from selling mining equipment or cloud mining services.

Notably, more than half (58 percent) of major mining pool operations are located in China, with the U.S.holding some 16 percent and the rest of the world making up 26 percent.These findings reinforce the notion that the price of bitcoin and its future viability and stability could still largely rely on Chinese trading volume — not to mention Chinese government and regulatory sentiment.On the latter front, it’s still “wait and see.” A full month has passed since Chinese bitcoin exchanges were supposedly set to unfreeze digital currency withdrawals as talks reportedly continue with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC).While service upgrades have been completed, Coin Desk said that exchange officials and the PBoC are still at odds over the know-your-customer rules to be enforced on reopening.Still, the word from exchange officials appears to be optimistic that the parties involved would soon reach a conclusion.A far speedier conclusion was reached Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange Bitfinex’s lawsuit against Wells Fargo.

Bitfinex filed suit in the U.S.District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that Wells suspended outgoing wire transfers to the U.S.from four Taiwan-based banks that service the exchange.According to Bitfinex, this effectively blocks stateside customers from selling virtual currency holdings.The digital currency exchange is seeking an injunction against Wells Fargo to prevent wire transfer stoppage, along with as much as $75,000 in damages.ethereal soul chinese medicineThe lawsuit stated that Wells Fargo had been made aware that the interruption of the cross-border transfers “presented an existential threat to their businesses.” On Wednesday (April 12), Bitfinex filed a notice of voluntary dismissal.bitcoin exchange czkBitfinex representative Brandon Carps told CoinDesk that the exchange aims to look past the issue.ethereal gem value

Additional details will reportedly be released in the near term.As for the future of bitcoin, one of the world’s largest potential markets for digital currencies is gearing up to make some decisions in the crypto space.India announced plans to create an interdisciplinary committee of government, economic and other financial regulatory officials to examine the current state of digital currency in India and on a global scale.bitcoin western union exchangeThe goal is to propose new regulations for the nation of 1.2 billion with respect to treatment of digital currencies.ethereal blade heroesIn three months, the committee will submit a report that will “suggest measures for dealing with such virtual currencies including issues relating to consumer protection, money laundering, etc.” India’s government and banking officials haven’t historically been champions of digital currency, suggesting that the new committee could choose to move in a more stringent direction.bitcoin solo mining

However, the nation’s current cash troubles and the recent precedent set by Japan’s legalization of bitcoin as a payment method could at the very least give India’s committee something to talk about.CoinbaseOnly 802 People Told the IRS About Bitcoin—LawsuitJeff John RobertsThe Internal Revenue Service revealed new details about its investigation into tax evasion related to bitcoin, filing court documents that suggest only a tiny percentage of virtual currency owners are reporting profits or losses in their annual returns.The new documents, filed Thursday in San Francisco federal court, come in the midst of a closely-watched legal fight between the IRS and Coinbase, a popular service for buying and selling bitcoins that hosts over a million customer accounts.The dispute began last year when the IRS issued a sweeping summons for Coinbase to turn over a vast amount of customer data, including every customer account as well as detailed transaction records.Coinbase claimed the IRS demands are illegally broad and refused to comply, which in turn led the IRS to file a federal lawsuit last week to enforce the summons.Jurors Weigh Charges Against a Pastor and Software Engineer in Bitcoin TrialRelatedvoice assistantsGoogle Home Outsmarts Amazon Alexa in 3,000 Question Quizvoice assistantsGoogle Home Outsmarts Amazon Alexa in 3,000 Question QuizWhile the lawsuit did not come as a surprise, a new affidavit from IRS agent David Utzke reveals additional information about how the agency is conducting the investigation.bitcoin xenforo

Specifically, Utzke explains he ran a computer analysis against the IRS's repository of hundreds of millions of tax records, and found fewer than a thousand people filed a Form 8949 to account for a "property description likely related to bitcoin."Form8949 is used to report capital losses and capital gains and, under current IRS rules, would require bitcoin owners to declare their profits.In some cases, the profit could be significant given the virtual currency soared from $13 to over $1,100 during the three year period (2013-2015) for which the agency is seeking information.Here is a paragraph from Utzke's affidavit that states only 802 individuals filed a bitcoin-related Form 8949 in 2015(emphasis mine):The IRS searched the MTRDB for Form 8949 data for tax years 2013 through 2015.bitcoin usb stickI received the results of those searches.bitcoin flash crash

Those results reflect that in 2013, 807 individuals reported a transaction on Form 8949 using a property description likely related to bitcoin; in 2014, 893 individuals reported a transaction on Form 8949 using a property description likely related to bitcoin; and in 2015, 802 individuals reported a transaction on Form 8949 using a property description likely related to bitcoin.It's impossible to know what percentage of Coinbase customers these numbers represent, but it's likely only a small fraction.Even though some Coinbase accounts belong to non-U.S.citizens, and many others did not have any transactions (and therefore did not trigger any capital gains), it's possible an IRS review of the accounts could identify hundreds of thousands of individuals who should have declared bitcoin income.In a Friday blog post, Coinbase said it has yet to turn over any information, and that it would push back against the scope of the summons."Coinbaseremains concerned with the indiscriminate and over broad scope of the government’s summons and we have produced no records under the summons," wrote Coinbase lawyer, Juan Suarez.Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.The company has previously described the IRS probe as unreasonable, noting the agency would not approach other financial institutions like JP Morgan or PayPal and demand every single of their customer records.In January, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong complained the legal fight could cost his company up to $1 million, and that he would prefer to spend the money hiring employees.

Armstrong at the time also offered an olive branch to the IRS, saying Coinbase is ready to provide customers with 1099-B forms, which are used by brokerages and others to help customers report their taxes.Following news of the IRS tax probe, one virtual currency lawyer said the agency's demand simply represented an opening gambit for negotiations—and that it that would end with Coinbase providing a far more narrow set of information.A person close to Coinbase, who was not authorized to speak for attribution, confirmed to Fortune the company and the IRS have been in talks, but also expressed surprise the agency has so far refused to narrow its demands.A spokesperson for the IRS said the agency cannot comment on specific investigations.The upshot of all this is that many Coinbase customers are likely to feel uneasy since the investigation could eventually lead them to owe back taxes or penalties, or even see the IRS seize their accounts.Bitcoin Prepares For an Ugly BreakupMeanwhile, Coinbase isn't the only one taking issue with the IRS's bitcoin stance.

A Los Angeles law firm, Berns Weiss, sued the IRS last year, complaining the agency's summons swept up one of the firm's partners, Jeffrey Berns, who held bitcoin at Coinbase, but had never sold it.The firm had to drop the lawsuit after the IRS told Berns he would not be a target of the investigation—but has since vowed to resume the legal battle."Wewill, however, continue our efforts to protect the rights of Coinbase customers regarding this patently overbroad summons.Thus, we plan to file a motion to intervene in the enforcement proceeding on behalf of other Coinbase customers who have contacted us and expressed their interest in fighting the summons," said the firm in a statement.Finally, it's unclear if the IRS is also targeting other virtual currency operators.While Coinbase is the most popular and mainstream bitcoin platform, there are numerous others.Meanwhile, the growing value of other virtual currencies, including Ethereum, mean firms that offer such currencies could soon find themselves in the cross-hairs of the IRS too.An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the IRS form on one occassion as Form 8948 not 8949.