Cryptocurrencies,Time and Freedom.

Friday, January 30, 2015

EU extends Russian sanctions as talks between Moscow and Kyiv due in Minsk

30/01 05:39 CET www.google.com/+EricAu118

As conflict rages in eastern Ukraine, the European Union has extended current sanctions against Russia until September.

At an extraordinary meeting in Brussels EU foreign ministers agreed to discuss more names to add to the list of Russians currently subjected to European travel bans and asset freezes.

The new Greek government agreed to the extension of existing sanctions.

Nikos Kotzias is the Greek foreign Minister “We have reached unanimity about the politics between the EU and Russia. So we are in the mainstream, we are not the “bad boy” as you call it:”

Belarus claims that the latest round of talks between Ukraine, Russia and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will take place in Minsk later today.

Leaders of the separatist forces have also been invited.

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “The Ukraine war needs to be stopped.”

More than 4,500 people have been killed in the conflict and 1.3 million people displaced.

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Princeton Follows NYU’s Bitcoin lead, Unofficially

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NYU was the pioneer of this movement to teach the students more about Bitcoin in the Fall 2014 semester. Princeton University has now joined the ranks of the learned for Spring 2015. In response, almost 400 students have already signed up for the course, again, highlighting heightened demand, especially amongst the savvy American youth.

This course seems focused on the technical side, and will address questions to the novice such as:

How does Bitcoin work? What makes Bitcoin different? How secure are your Bitcoins? How anonymous are Bitcoin users? What determines the price of Bitcoins? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? What might the future hold for Bitcoin?

Princeton’s course creators make the following claims to those who complete the 11-week course:

After this course, you’ll know everything you need to be able to separate fact from fiction when reading claims about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. You’ll have the conceptual foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network. And you’ll be able to integrate ideas from Bitcoin in your projects. Note: this is not an official Princeton University course.

Also read: A Day in NYU’s Course on Cryptocurrencies

Not sure what the last sentence means since it will be for Princeton students at Princeton facilities, taken in lieu of other Princeton courses. Probably some legal semantics is involved. Princeton administrators must have signed off on the course and the campus location, so semantics aside, Princeton will start teaching Bitcoin with one video course per week beginning February 16th, 2015.

In addition, each week there will be a Google Hangout with that week’s lecturer. Plus, there will be five “programming assignments” where students will be asked to build various components of “simplified Bitcoin-like cryptocurrencies”. Sounds like Make-your-own-Altcoin week is coming soon.

The official name of the course that is not an official Princeton course is “BTC-Tech: Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies.” The lecturers include Arvind Narayanan, Joseph Bonneau, Edward Felten (Princeton University), and Andrew Miller (University of Maryland).

Images from Shutterstock.

What do think of the new wave of major schools offer Bitcoin tutelage? Share above and comment below.

Loonie tumbles as Canada's shrinking economy fuels rate speculation

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Lower loonie fallout: Taking stock of the winners and losers

The Canadian dollar reached the weakest level in almost six years as a report showed the economy shrank in November, bolstering speculation the central bank will cut interest rates again.
The currency headed for a 10th weekly decline, the longest losing stretch since 2000, as the government reported gross domestic product declined 0.2 percent from October. The Bank of Canada unexpectedly lowered borrowing costs last week for the first time since 2009, saying the move was meant to provide insurance as the slump in crude oil, the nation’s biggest export, weighed on the economy.
“It really looks like the economy is slowing,” Bipan Rai, director of foreign-exchange strategy at CIBC World Markets Inc., said by phone from Toronto. “It has implications for whether or not the bank will ease again in March, and right now I’m seeing a greater-than 60 percent probability we could see that.”
The loonie depreciated 1.2 percent to 78.28 U.S. cents at 8:54 a.m. in Toronto, the weakest since March 2009. It has slid 2.7 percent this week.
The Canadian currency has dropped 8.9 percent since Dec. 31 in a fifth consecutive monthly loss.
U.S. ECONOMY
The economy of the U.S., Canada’s biggest trade partner, expanded less than forecast in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported in Washington. GDP grew at a 2.6 percent annualized rate, data showed, versus a forecast of 3 percent in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The economy advanced 5 percent in the third quarter.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey for Canada’s monthly GDP was for little change after 0.3 percent growth in October.
The Bank of Canada reduced the benchmark interest rate on Jan. 21 to 0.75 percent, from 1 percent, where it had been since September 2010.
Crude has dropped by more than 50 percent since June, when it reached a 2014 high of $107.73 a barrel in New York. It traded at $44.63 Friday.