By Coinweek Coin News Wire ….
Coin News Wire for January 12, 2018
Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency
1.) Breaking Bitcoin With a Quantum Computer
“The second someone creates a viable quantum computer, the NP-complete math problems at the heart of Bitcoin mining tech become instantly solvable,” Beath notes. “In other words, one answer to the question ‘what’s the first thing you’d do with a quantum computer?’ is ‘mine all of the remaining Bitcoin instantly.’ Until that happens, nobody has a quantum computer.”
Beath’s off-the-cuff observation, which he made in response to a Fortune query about the security of bitcoin, is amusing. But it also underscores a serious problem: Namely, a new era of computing is fast-approaching and when it arrives, the system that gave rise to many crypto-currency fortunes will collapse…
2.) Ripple, MoneyGram Announce Partnership to ‘Modernize’ Payments
Blockchain firm Ripple will be partnering with U.S. money transfer service, MoneyGram, to test out payment flows of XRP, Ripple’s native cryptocurrency, the companies announced today…
Banknote News
3.) New $10 Solomon Island note
THE Central Bank of Solomon Islands announces the introduction of the new $10 note, the fourth banknote in the new family of banknotes, which also starts circulating [November 29]…
4.) No, this is actually not the design for Kenya’s new banknote series
Hokie’s concept features a photo collage of traditional African motifs–zebras, lions, grazing elephants, Kenyan runners–treated with a contemporary sensibility. Departing from traditional banknote conventions, his proposal has a vibrant color palette, clean sans-serif typography and a neat grid of hairlines in lieu of the guilloche patterns found on most paper money…
Under the Radar
5.) India stops production of coins, RBI to clear storage rooms
Indian Government Mint has stopped the production of coins as of January 8, 2018. These mints are responsible for the production of coins which in turn are circulated by RBI.
This is being done as the government storage rooms are full. Manufactured coins in large quantities are stored in these store rooms leaving no room for more coins. According to sources, there are around 2,500 million pieces of manufactured coins in the storage rooms waiting to be picked up by the RBI.
Crime & Punishment
6.) Russian customs prevents 1.5 tons of coins from entering Estonia
A foreigner of unspecified citizenship tried to take 25-ruble and 10-kopek coins with a total worth of 4.19 million rubles or approximately 61,200 euros out of Russia, Interfax reported, referring to the Kingissepp customs office.
7.) Valuable coins stolen from St Andrews home by bogus collectors
The haul of around 15 coins included a $20 gold coin from 1883, an 1887 £5 gold coin and a George III spade guinea dated 1793.
The collection is estimated to be worth a high four figure sum and its theft has left its owner distraught.
Two men posing as potential buyers visited the owner’s home in St Andrews on Friday, December 22…
8.) Perth Mint worker who stole $50,000 gold bar by hiding it in his underpants jailed
The District Court was told Matthew Alexander Roussety, 27, had a “brain snap” when he decided to take the 1 kilogram bar while he was working at the mint’s refinery at Perth Airport in December 2016.
The bar was a reject one, and was going to be melted down, but Roussety decided to steal it by secreting it down the front of his pants.
It set off metal detectors when he was leaving the refinery, but he managed to explain it away by telling security officers the alarm had gone off because of the metal zip on his trousers…
Metal Detecting, Treasure & Archaeology
9.) Detectorist digs up ‘extremely rare’ gold Saxon coin
Jason Baker, who has a passion for metal detecting, dug up the precious find on Thursday.
It’s the first time he’s had to declare treasure, and hopes it will find its way into the British Museum, but if not, he would love to keep the coin. The item is thought to be a gold Thrymsa from the Crondall period, circa 620-645.
Through his hobby Jason estimates he has found around 200 Roman coins, 40 old English hammered coins and other pieces of historic goods, including a massive Roman lead ingot which sold for £25,000 at auction.
10.) Roman coin treasure hoard found in Wakefield garden
A report from the institution said the find was made up of 17 Roman copper alloy coins, known as nummus. They are believed to date back to 335AD-402AD…
11.) Clearwater exploration company recovers first coins from 1830s shipwreck
A joint venture that includes Endurance Exploration Group Inc. has begun to recover passenger valuables from the wreck site believed to be that of the American steamship Pulaski.
The Pulaski sank in 1838, 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina when a boiler exploded.
The initial recoveries include a number of early American silver coins, all dated prior to the Pulaski’s sinking, Endurance said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
12.) A settler forgot where he buried $100,000 in gold around the Bay Area. It might still be out there
Loaded down with gold — and without a banking system to receive it — Swift decided to start burying his haul around the Bay Area, primarily in the Sonoma area. The only problem was, he was very bad at remembering where he’d hidden it all. Although Swift died in 1875, the secret died long before then, forgotten by the scatter-brained settler.
The biggest discovery came in 1914. A.W. Lehrke, a Sonoma Valley rancher, woke one morning with the remnants of a dream still foggy in his mind. The bit he could remember clung to him: He was digging under his home for gold. The thought must have needled him, because he decided to put the dream to rest by doing just that. He descended into his basement and began digging. And there, amazingly, he found $42,600 in gold coins.
Museums & Exhibits
13.) Colonial Williamsburg adds rare abolitionist coin to collection
The bronze medal was struck in 1792 and is one of only a handful known to exist. Two of the medals are in Danish museums and the others are in private collections.
The coin depicts a man’s head, which is believed to be the oldest Danish portrait of an African. A Latin phrase meaning “Woe is me” is imprinted around the border of the profile. The medal’s creation marked Crown Prince Frederik VI’s Edict of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, considered the beginning of the abolitionist movement in Europe.
Colonial Williasmburg acquired the coin as a gift from Lasser Numismatics Fund and as a partial gift by John Kraljevich, a currency expert.n The medal will be displayed beginning in 2020, after completion of the $41.7 million expansion of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg.
Upcoming Auctions & Events
- Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2018 NYINC Auction – January 11-13
- Bertolami Fine Arts Auction 41 – January 20
- A. Karamitsos Public & Live Bid Auction 606 – February 3
- Raffaele Negrini E-Live Auction 2 – February 4
- Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger Auctions 335-337 – February 6-9
World of the Weird
14.) Coin commemorates moving of Dionne Quintuplets home
“I was taking pictures of the Dionne home being moved and captured one that I felt would be perfect on the face of a coin. It’s the only picture that I believe exists with the home on the moving truck and the roof on it,” he says.
For the other side of the coin Fournier applied to use the country’s 150th anniversary logo.
Fournier has made similar commemorative coins to honour the annual Norad Tracks Santa and the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission’s Northlander train.
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