US Postal Inspector Hiring 30+ Specialists with Bitcoin Experience

The US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the law enforcement arm of the US Postal Service, has listed a job opening something called an “Intelligence Gathering Specialist.” Candidates must understand bitcoin, darknet markets and how to analyze the information stored on a blockchain. The USPIS jurisdiction encompasses “crimes that may adversely affect or fraudulently use the U.S. Mail, the postal system or postal employees.” The listing hints the agency is sharpening its cyber crime efforts. Also Read: Did Julian Assange Use Bitcoin to Prove He Is Alive? Bitcoin Blockchain Investigations shutterstock_553718413 “Candidates shall be capable of performing a prioritized assessment of the data to identify the most critical and reliable data in order to identify bitcoins, locations, accounts, services, travels, email addresses, IP addresses and other pattern of life data in an effort to determine physical attribution of an Internet identity,” the USPIS stipulates of the Washington, D.C-based position. The USPIS prefers candidates with experience evaluating internet information in social media, chats, forums, darknets, Tor network, news feeds, internet relay chats and other web materials. “The investigative/internet analyst shall analyze the data from these various sources and identify investigative opportunities and intelligence to support the many investigative programs within the USPIS to include cybercrime, narcotics, identify theft, dangerous goods and workplace violence,” the USPIS explains. The Bitcoining Whistleblower Bitcoin-Reddit A Redditor, going by the pseudonym ‘btcbadboy’, posted on Monday screenshots seen of an apparent desktop client with the job listing posted. The account, and all related posts, have since been deleted. The original poster (‘OP’), who claimed to work for a government contractor, shared his thoughts on the job listing based on his experience. “[T]his is more geared towards [darknet markets]…” stated Btcbadboy. “Heroin and opiates are apparently becoming a major issue and for some reason they believe shutting down the DNM’s will help with this…” According to the listing, the USPIS seeks engineers and analysts to de-anonymize the darknet. This web research could be coupled with USPS databases of everyone’s mail already held on file with the agency, the ‘OP’ opined further. “We typically work with [USPIS] to staff their tech guys like network engineers and logistic DBA guys,” Btcbadboy comments. “They are hiring 34 people for this role, or ideally 34. I know this doesn’t sound like much but this is a pretty big order compared to most positions with them.” Btcbadboy adds: “From what i gathered off the phone call suspicious or tainted transactions will be logged to a database that can then be utilized by USPS as well as other agencies. They will also be using the database to find address trends (whatever that means).” Alongside experience with cyber intelligence and software tools to search and mine the clearnet and the darknet/deep web, the USPIS seeks an individual with an “advanced understanding of methods used by cyber criminals to hide themselves on the internet.” Commenters expressed the job, for which one must be able to receive a Public Trust and hold a US green card or passport, might resemble the relationship between the NSA and private contractor firms like Booze Allen Hamilton, which provide technicians to the NSA, including whistleblower Edward Snowden. US Postal Inspectors Crack Down on Cybercrime shutterstock_107674460 The listing highlights USPS efforts to grow cybercrime related abilities. “The cybercrime program reviews network data, collects forensic images, researches tools and technologies, administers hardware and software, conducts online investigations into black market/dark web activities affecting the USPS, its customer and employees,” states the job listing. “The investigative/internet analyst shall be leverage open source and commercial software tools to review, assess and collect data from a disparate list of open and closed web sources, including but not limited to news publications, blogs, social media platforms, paste sites, government websites, forums, onion sites.” The USPIS aims to crack down on “high profile market places and cyber-criminals that are using the US mail or targeting the USPS, its products, service, network or employees for attack or exploitation.” What do you think about the USPIS analyst position? Will you apply? Let us know in the comments below.

ECB Actively Considering Cash-Like Central Bank Digital Currency

In a speech on Monday, Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), discussed how the bank could design, issue, and manage a central bank digital currency for everyone, to be used alongside cash. One of the two types considered was a cash-like digital currency with anonymity. Also read: Europe Committed to Tightening Digital Currency Rules by End of 2017 The proposed central bank digital currency or Digital Base Money (DBM) is a digital equivalent of banknotes, representing a claim at the central bank. A form of DBM already exists, according to Mersch, in the form of central bank deposits for commercial banks. Households and non-banks, however, are excluded from this setup. The new DBM would include everyone. Two Models for Central Bank Digital Currency Mersch discussed two models for a central bank digital currency; account-based and value-based. He also said that blockchain technology has the potential to support both systems. Yves Mersch Yves Mersch, ECB For an account-based DBM, the central bank would open an account for every interested non-bank and be directly involved in any money transfers between accounts similar to how a bank account works right now. No electronic wallet would be needed, but the central bank would be in full control of the money and could see its whole history. The other option, one far closer in design to bitcoin, is a value-based DBM that is modeled after cash. Non-banks would have their own electronic wallets for holding and using the DBM. Just like cash, the central bank will not be involved in the money transfer process, there wouldn’t be a public history to follow, and funds are directly debited and credited from electronic wallets. “A transfer of DBM would require that the funds be debited from the payer’s electronic wallet and credited to the payee’s device without the involvement of the central bank,” Mersch explained, noting that: Anonymity towards the central bank can be achieved only with value-based DBM. These factors may influence the demand for DBM by non-banks. Incentives for Central Bank Digital Currency There are two reasons why this is the right time to start thinking about the mechanics of introducing a central bank digital currency, according to Mersch.credit cards Firstly, public demand for a central bank digital currency could rise as the popularity of electronics payments increases. Currently, commercial banks offer various electronic payment methods including credit card, debit cards and prepaid cards. Mersch claims that, “People may prefer to hold claims on the central bank to avoid the risk that the commercial bank defaults.” Secondly, new technological developments such as “blockchain” could make introducing DBM “much easier and potentially less expensive than ten years ago,” he added. No mention was given to Bitcoin. Cash Won’t Be Abolished Citing speculations that central banks will abolish cash, Mersch stressed, “if DBM for non-banks were introduced, it would exist alongside cash for the foreseeable future.” The central bank digital currency “would merely be an additional option for non-banks to hold cash eurofunds,” he added. While in some European countries, such as Sweden and Denmark, cash usage is low and sinking, in the Euro area Mersch revealed “the growth in demand for banknotes has by far exceeded that of economic output.” Before the DBM could be issued, the ECB needs to better understand the options available and their implications, Mersch said. “We need to be sure not only that DBM is unlikely to have negative economic side-effects, but also that the relevant systems are operationally efficient and safe.” What type of digital currency do you think the ECB would introduce? Let us know in the comments section below.

The US Reigns Supreme in the Bitcoin ATM Industry

Coinatmradar, a website mapping and tracking trends for Bitcoin ATMs (BTMs) around the world, recently released their 2016 data as well as projected trends for 2017. According to the site, the United States is dominating the BTM market with market share of 73 percent. Also read: 10,000+ EU ATMs to Cash Out Bitcoin At press time, Coinatmradar displays 951 BTMs in 55 countries from 192 operators, 555 of which are located in the United States. The country with the second most BTMs is coinatmradarCanada with 136 BTMs, followed by the United Kingdom with 47 BTMs, the site shows. The U.S. has been dominating the market since the site started providing data in 2014. “United States of America market will be still dominating with potentially increasing its share further,” states Coinatmradar’s most recent blog post. The BTM numbers do not include kiosks, retail outlets, and other machines worldwide that sell bitcoin as one of their many functions. Coinatmradar currently shows over 36,000 of non-BTM locations globally to buy bitcoin such as the Swiss railway machines and Canada’s Flexepin system. On Coinmap, there are a total number of 8,497 merchants worldwide including ATMs listed. Bitcoin.com interviewed Vlad of CoinATMRadar about the growth trend of the BTM industry from his perspective, and why so many operators are choosing the U.S. U.S. Dominant Market Bitcoin.com (BC): The BTM industry appears to be growing faster as time goes by. Where does Coinatmradar see the growth coming from? Coinatmradar (CAR): The U.S. is dominating bitcoin ATM market with 73% of all machines worldwide (share was growing steadily over last 2 years), most new installations happen there. Also it is usually existing operators enlarge their networks of machines, while new operators also appear, but not at that scale.

Chinese Bitcoin Miner Might Be Trying To Corner ASIC Chip Market

Bitmain, which specializes in custom mining chips and miners, has come under increased scrutiny due to the Chinese firm’s control over the production of so much bitcoin hardware and hashing power. Some bitcoin participants are beginning to fear a negative outcome for bitcoin with so few producers of the digital currency’s mining hardware. In 2013, companies like Black Arrow Software, Cointerra, Hashfast, Vmc, Kncminer and others offered different hardware miner models. Today, the competition for consumer-grade mining hardware has largely dwindled to two companies: Canaan and Bitmain. The-Beijing based Bitmain announced Tuesday the launch of its new Antminer T9, which features fewer ASIC chips and increased power consumption over the hardware provider’s prior models, leaving questions as to how they’ve made their overall system more efficient. Also Read: Why Bitcoin is Close to a Record Breaking 3 Exahashes of Processing Power