Pierluigi Paganini January 07, 2013

On this day Bitcoin turns 4 years old. As any 4 year old will tell you this has been a wild ride. From a little know digital currency to today’s acceptance into the legal banks and marketplace this little currency that could has shocked world leaders, stunned banking officials all over the world trading and is today in the $13.5-USD range.

Richard Amores  and I first came across this when we were covering Wikileak problems and writing our first book – The Deep Dark Web – the cyber underweb we’re finding this new currency and using it because it was working and had no government ties. Bitcoin has been vilified by most governments but the US -UK and it’s ties to currency transaction systems like Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and others (IMF and SEPA, SWIFT to name a few) became the shot heard around the cyber world.

On the one hand you have Anonymous and other hacktivist using it to show how it cannot be controlled and the other side is the European Central Bank published a report in Nov-2012 about finding a solution to Bitcoins place in (FRB) Fractional Reserve Banking, the cornerstone piece of all banks to create money out of thin air.

Thomas Jefferson said:

“I sincerely believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restores to the people to whom it properly belongs”

Digital virtual communities have exploded in recent years – this phenomenon is enabled by social media and the changing world we live in.

In some cases some communities have created their own currency for exchange of goods and services but it has expanded to outside their own circles to provide a new medium of exchange, creating new digital virtual currencies that are changing the world. Bitcoin-Central is now the first Bitcoin exchange to become a bank with guarantee funds insured up to EU$100,000.

This book explores the new digital currencies and how they are changing the world. When we were researching -The Deep Dark Web book we saw that some of the criminal elements were using this new currency Bitcoin but we also saw that legit business were also adapting to this new currency.

We hope to help you learn what is happening with this new currency we cover -Who uses this currency -What are the financial aspects – Governments, Business, Merchants and Criminals. In all we hope to guide you with some of the questions you have.

This book will be an invaluable resource for cyber security professionals, financial policy-makers, business experts, lawyers, merchants, scholars, and researchers, this book provides a comprehensive research from a International cyber security perspective, technical, and financial implications of the new digital virtual currencies.

Richard Amores & Pierluigi Paganini