CoinWeek News Wire for April 20, 2018: The Doctor Will See You Now, Ditch the Cent, Playing Possum

April 20, 2018

CoinWeek News Wire: Bitcoin

Coinweek News Wire for April 20, 2018 ….

Current Events

1.) Should the U.S. Retire the Penny and Nickel?

It’s true that it costs more to mint these two coins than they are worth. In 2017, it cost the U.S. Mint 1.8 cents to make each penny and 6.6 cents for each nickel. Overall, however, the Mint is a profit machine. In 2017, it earned almost $400 million in profits producing circulating coins. For every dollar’s worth of coins it shipped out, the Mint made 45 cents. That is a profit margin many business owners dream about.

So, think of pennies and nickels as the Mint’s loss leader … Eliminating pennies and nickels could make people think coins overall aren’t useful…

2.) Legal battle brewing over Possum Magic $2 coins

The Royal Canadian Mint, which is the official maker of the country’s money, has said the commemorative Australian series, which celebrates the classic Mem Fox children’s book Possum Magic, ripped off its unique process of painting colour onto metal.

A lawsuit was filed in the Australian Federal Court in December over half a million Remembrance Day $2 coins which featured red poppies. It has now been expanded to include the Possum Magic $2 coins…

3.) Hundreds queue across Germany for new special edition five-euro coin

In cities across the country on Thursday, people lined up in order to get their hands on the new specially minted five-euro coin.

Highly sought after for their innovative design, an orange, translucent polymer ring encircles the centre of the coin, separating it from its outer ring. The unique material makes the coin much more difficult to counterfeit, with the plastic ring easy to recognize with the naked eye and difficult to reproduce.

The series began in 2017 and one coin is to be issued each year until 2021. The 2018 edition is called “Subtropical Zone” while last year’s edition was called “Tropical Zone” and had a red polymer ring.

Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency

4.) Cambridge Analytica was reportedly exploring an ICO

“Prior to the Facebook controversy, we were developing a suite of technologies to help individuals reclaim their personal data from corporate entities and to have full transparency and control over how their personal data are used,” a spokesperson said. “We were exploring multiple options for people to manage and monetize their personal data, including blockchain technology.”

5.) Suspect From Iceland Bitcoin Miner Theft Escapes Prison

Stefánsson had been in custody since Feb. 2 on suspicion of his involvement in a series of burglaries, wherein 600 PCs, 600 graphics cards, 100 power supplies, 100 motherboards, 100 memory discs, and 100 CPU processors had been taken from data centers involved in cryptocurrency mining in the South West and North West of Iceland. The burglaries took place from Dec. 5 2017 to Jan. 16, 2018.

The aggregate value of the stolen items was estimated at 200 million krónur, or $1,990,000. Iceland Magazine called the incident “one of the largest criminal cases in Icelandic history.”

6.) New York’s attorney general is investigating bitcoin exchanges

The investigation will attempt to shed more transparency on how platforms combat market manipulation attempts and suspicious trading, as well as bots, theft, and fraud. Many of the exchanges Schneiderman is targeting, such as Beijing-based Huobi, have headquarters located outside the US, but the attorney general has jurisdiction over any foreign business operating in New York…

7.) Bitcoin Under The Skin – Why People Are Using Subdermal Microchip Wallets

Dutchman Martijn Wismeijer is very cautious when it comes to storing bitcoin – so much so that in 2014, he had two NFC (near-field communication) chips surgically implanted into each hand to store his encrypted bitcoin keys.

While the method may seem drastic, Bitcoin security is an important issue. Reportedly up to 23% of all Bitcoin has already been irreversibly lost, leading people to take their security very seriously indeed.

He had the procedure done at a body piercing studio, which he recommends to anyone wishing to have the procedure done. The chips are manufactured from glass and measure 2mm x 12mm end to end, the size of a small grain of rice. Wismeijer said the process was less painful than an IV drip injection, and pointed out that the procedure is commonly carried out on household pets with no issues…

[WARNING: The following link is for a video of the procedure on YouTube. There is no blood, but those with a fear of needles may wish to avoid watching as these people receive the mark of the beas… uh, their subdermal bitcoin wallets: https://bit.ly/2F400aL —CoinWeek]

8.) CNBC Fast Money’s Brian Kelly: Bitcoin Is Like The ‘Internet In The 1980s’

Kelly compares Bitcoin to early Internet companies Cisco and Microsoft, equating Bitcoin with Cisco’s router and Internet protocols. However, Kelly underlines that it is incorrect to think of Bitcoin as a company or a stock:

“This is an open source software, you can’t think of it as a company, and that’s where people make their mistake […] This is not a stock, this is not a company.”

Under the Radar

9.) Romania Celebrates “330 Years After Printing the Bible in Bucharest”

The National Bank of Romania (BNR) [has launched] … April 16, a gold coin with the theme “330 years since the Bible was printed in Bucharest,” according to a press release issued by the editorial board…

10.) Bulgarian National Bank Puts into Circulation a Silver Commemorative Coin “The Old Elm in Sliven”

From April 23, 2018, the Bulgarian National Bank puts into circulation a silver commemorative coin “The Old Elm in Sliven”…

News Wire Crime & Punishment

11.) NCIC Crime Bulletin

From the Numismatic Crime Information Center (NCIC):

Fraudulent Credit Card Purchases

A long-time PNG dealer (who wants to remain anonymous) says his company has seen a significant increase in the number of attempted, fraudulent credit card purchases coming from the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. These attempts are apparently linked to a source or sources in Venezuela and involve stolen credit card numbers.

The attempted purchases were made via the company’s online store and online ordering system. Some attempted fraudulent credit card purchases appeared to be “tests” with the buyer trying to order only $100 of merchandise, but other attempts involved orders for $1,000 of merchandise.

Any dealer who has experienced a recent influx of suspicious orders or purchases with stolen credit cards please contact NCIC.

* * *

Please contact the NCIC’s Doug Davis if you have any questions or information about any of the cases above. You can reach him at (817) 723-7231 or email him at [email protected].

* * *

The Numismatic Crime Information Center is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation. P.O. Box 14080 Arlington, Texas 76094.

12.) Gold seized at Indian airport

The Customs officers at the Chennai airport have detected five cases of gold smuggling. While three were detected on Wednesday, two were on Monday…

13.) Pawn shop owner fires gun at fleeing thief

A gold, coin and gun shop owner opened fire as a thief fled his Everett store Friday afternoon, according to Everett police.

The thief jumped into a car carrying valuables he’d stolen from the shop around 4:30 p.m. in the 5800 block of Evergreen Way, officer Aaron Snell said. The pawn shop owner fired at least one round, but it’s unclear if he fired at the vehicle or into the air.

Officers tracked down the vehicle nearby and arrested a passenger, who was suspected of being the thief…

Banknote News

14.) Bungled tender delays plan to roll out new-look bank notes

British currency printer De La Rue International has turned Kenya’s long-standing plan to roll out the constitution compliant new generation bank notes on its head…

15.) Nigerian Muslim group demands withdrawal of N100 notes printed under Jonathan

The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has asked the federal government to withdraw from circulation, the N100 notes printed during the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

In a statement by Ishaq Akintola, its director, the group alleged that the N100 notes of Jonathan government were inferior and had no Arabic Ajami inscriptions. MURIC wondered why Ajami was removed from some notes with the assumption of office by a Christian president…

16.) The 500 rupee note: Seychelles’ richest bank note and its 7 natural wonders

Seychelles’ richest bank note — the 500 rupee note — was released into circulation in December 2016 and is worth about $37. SNA takes a closer look at seven of the endemic flora and fauna found on the yellow, brown and black note…

17.) ATM cash crunch LATEST updates: Govt meets PSBs, says most ATMS will be operational within 24hrs

Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar said that the cash crunch in various parts of the country will be normalised in five to seven days, Business Standard reported.

The currency chests of the Reserve Bank of India have cash worth Rs 1.75 billion, which will be moved to ATMs across the country…

Metal Detecting, Treasure & Archaeology

18.) Treasure Hunters to Gather for TAMDC Texas Treasure Show in Temple April 21-23

Modern day treasure hunters will gather at the Mayborn Convention and Activity Center in Temple this weekend as the Texas Association of Metal Detecting Clubs hosts the Texas Treasure Show. Admission is $3 at the door, and kids 12 and under get in free.

19.) Coroner rules thousand-year-old silver coins found in Huntingdonshire are ‘treasure’

Two silver coins dating back 1,000 years to the reign of Aethelred the Unready were found by a metal detectorist searching a field at Southoe, an inquest has heard…

Museums & Exhibits

20.) Confederate Currency: The Color of Money

Artist John W. Jones researched and documented over 126 images of slavery that were depicted on Confederate and Southern States money. The juxtaposition of the framed Confederate currencies with the acrylic paintings inspired by the slave images on the currencies makes a very powerful statement on the contribution of enslaved Africans to the American economy…

21.) Colorado Springs Money Museum holds open house to celebrate National Coin Week

The museum, operated by the nonprofit American Numismatic Association, is at 818 N. Cascade Ave. Saturday is the last day to get into the museum for free…