camille - February 7, 2014 "A theoretical question on my mind: has anyone ever tried putting a voluntary botnet at work to mine crypto-currencies for philanthropic fundraising purposes? "
By Primavera De Filippi , Wired 03.08.14 "As opposed to the other blockchain-based distributed applications described above — from messaging to contracts — Ethereum can be regarded as a kind of distributed operating system: a platform allowing for new applications to be developed upon it, so as to eventually create self-validating contracts and autonomous systems that operate directly on the blockchain."
the murky world of online financial transactions where money bounces between accounts from Cyprus to New York in the blink of an eye. "While Liberty Reserve was incorporated outside the United States, federal officials used a provision in the Patriot Act to target the organization and other financial institutions with whom they conducted business. It was the first time the provision had been used to prosecute a virtual currency provider, officials said." "Organized crime and terrorist groups are now financing their operations through these anonymous payment systems,” said Tom Kellermann, a vice president at Trend Micro, a security firm. “The financial sector no longer has a monopoly on moving capital around the world.”