Topic: My bank account's got robbed by European Commission. Over 700k is lost.

This was posted in the Bitcoin Forum:



The most of circulating assets on our business Current Account are blocked.
Over 700k of expropriated money will be used to repay country's debt. Probably we will get back about 20% of this amount in 6-7 years.

I'm not Russian oligarch, but just European medium size IT business. Thousands of other companies around Cyprus have the same situation.

The business is definitely ruined, all Cypriot workers to be fired.
We are moving to small Caribbean country where authorities have more respect to people's assets. Also we are thinking about using Bitcoin to pay wages and for payments between our partners.

Special thanks to:

- Jeroen Dijsselbloem
- Angela Merkel
- Manuel Barroso
- the rest of officials of "European Comission"



P.S. The worst thing is, that even a month ago I was suspecting that things can go wrong. In February, I several times called my banker and lawyer and asked them if money on the account is safe, mentioning that article in Financial Times. But they convinced me that there is no reason to worry, and even if country goes default, in no way current accounts may be affected. "This is European Union and banks here can't just grab your money and go" I was told.
I got a hard lesson and now I know the meaning of phrase "TRUST NO ONE".

Anastasiades requests investigation into allegations against family members

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades addresses a conference of civil servants in Nicosia, 29 March 2013 (Reuters)

A company owned by in-laws of Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades withdrew dozens of millions from Laiki Bank on March 12 and 13, according to an article published in Cypriot newspaper Haravgi.

The newspaper, which is affiliated to the communist-rooted AKEL party, reports that three days before the Eurogroup meeting the company took five promissory notes worth €21m from Laiki Bank and transferred the money to London.

Responding to the allegations, Anastasiades said: “The attempt to defame companies or people linked to my family… is nothing but an attempt to distract people from the liability of those who led the country to a state of bankruptcy.”

The president added that no one, including himself, will be exempt from the ongoing investigations looking into responsibilities over the near collapse of the economy.

Anastasiades added that when the investigative committee convenes on Tuesday, he will request that its members look into this particular case with the same attentiveness as all other cases.

The company in question has firmly denied the reports.

Last Friday a list of companies and politicians that had loans written off by banks at the heart of Cyprus' bailout crisis was published in Greece and was subsequently handed to the Cypriot parliament's ethics committee. The list includes the names of politicians from Cyprus' biggest parties (excluding the socialist EDEK and the Greens).

Source: EnetEnglish

Meddle Not: Surge of anti-EU sentiment sweeps students

Turmeric equals exercise in its ability to prevent aging

A chemical that naturally occurs in turmeric root appears to protect the heart from aging as much as moderate aerobic exercise, according to a trio of studies conducted by researchers from the University of Tsukuba in Japan.

Turmeric root has been an important component of traditional Asian medicinal systems for hundreds of years. In recent decades, scientific studies have confirmed the potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of the trio of turmeric chemicals known as "curcuminoids," which give the root its distinctive yellow-orange color. Although only one of these chemicals is properly known as "curcumin," the name is commonly used to refer to all of them collectively.

The three new studies all compared the effects of exercise and curcumin on heart health and postmenopausal women over an eight-week period. All the studies were randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled. Curcumin was delivered by means of colloidal nanoparticles.

Can turmeric prevent heart disease?

In the first study, researchers assigned 32 women to either take a curcumin supplement, engage in moderate aerobic exercise training, or undergo no intervention at all. The researchers measured participants' vascular endothelial function - the responsiveness of the layer of cells that line the blood vessels, a key indicator of overall cardiovascular health - both at the beginning and end of the study. They found that while there was no improvement in the control group, endothelial function significantly increased in both the exercise and curcumin groups. Most surprisingly, the improvement in the two experimental groups was identical.

The second study examined curcumin's effects on the responsiveness of arteries to changes in blood pressure ("arterial compliance"), another key measure of cardiovascular health. In this study, 32 women were randomly assigned to receive either a curcumin supplement or a placebo pill, or to undergo an exercise routine plus either a curcumin or placebo pill. The researchers found no significant improvement in the control group, significant (and equivalent) improvements in both the exercise-only and curcumin-only groups, and the greatest improvement among participants who exercised and also took the supplements.

In the final study, researchers examined the effects of exercise and curcumin on the rate of age-related degeneration of the heart's left ventricle. 45 participants were randomly assigned into one of the same four groups used in the second study.

The researchers once again found that both exercise and curcumin produced significant increases in heart health. In this study; however, curcumin alone did not appear to provide any benefit. Specifically, brachial systolic blood pressure (SBP) decreased among participants who exercised, whether or not they took curcumin. In addition, heart-rate-corrected aortic augmentation index (AIx) and aortic SBP both decreased significantly only among participants who both exercised and took curcumin.

"Regular ingestion of curcumin could be a preventive measure against cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women," the authors of the first study wrote. "Furthermore, our results suggest that curcumin may be a potential alternative ... for patients who are unable to exercise."

Curcumin is best absorbed from turmeric root, rather than from supplements.

Source: Natural News

BBC covers Bitcoin to see if "virtual cash can replace money"

5 Crypto-Currencies You've Never Heard Of

Since the theft of depositors in Cyprus, Bitcoin has reached amazing new heights in both popularity and value. Over a $1 billion of Bitcoins are now in circulation. People all over the world are beginning to realize the value of financial anonymity and the utility of using crypto-currencies.

Peer-to-peer digital currencies don't require a central authority or a bank account, they have microscopic transaction fees, are quasi-anonymous and can be used to purchase a growing list of real-world goods and services.

However, there is a dilemma to the price of Bitcoin rising too fast. Some say it's a bubble, yet as capital controls and the desire for financial anonymity continue to rise around the world, so will Bitcoin's value. If it is a bubble, it's not likely to burst anytime soon.

The real dilemma is why would anyone spend a currency that doubles in value every few months?  Bitcoin, at this point, is a good investment but not a great medium of exchange.

The success of Bitcoin has spawned a few emerging competing digital currencies into the market that seek to correct some of Bitcoin's shortcomings.  Modeled after Bitcoin's open-source, peer-to-peer format, these new currencies may not be riding Bitcoin's coattails much longer as they gain steam in their own right.

CryptoJunky writes:

For the past several months Bitcoin has been making headlines as its massive growth has outpaced any and all traditional investments. However, the big winner this week in the fledgling crypto currency market was not Bitcoin but the myriad of young crypto currencies that now appear poised for growth.

What are these young crypto currencies? Here are 5 new crypto currencies you've probably never heard of:

Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) is quickly becoming the most popular competing digital currency. Litecoin is a peer-to-peer digital currency like Bitcoin but with a scrypt hashing system making it is easier to mine. It trades on multiple exchanges, and a new Silk Road-like free marketplace called Atlantis is being developed exclusively for Litecoin in Tor. Litecoin differs from Bitcoin in that its Scrypt is easier to mine and four times as many Litecoins will be produced (84 million) giving it more room for expansion and a more stable long-term value. Litecoin has risen from about $.25 to nearly $.70 in the last few weeks and is expected to continue climbing as the marketplace for buying goods with Litecoins expands. Get started with Litecoins here.

Namecoin

Namecoin (NMC) is the only other major competitor to Bitcoin besides Litecoin. Namecoin can be merged mined with BTC, but uses an alternative peer-to-peer domain system. Namecoin differs from Bitcoin in that it allows users to attach information to any given transaction, but is similar in that only 21 million coins will be produced. Namecoins are currently trading at around $.20, or .00226 of a Bitcoin. Get started with Namecoins here.

PPcoin

PPcoin (PPC) is a P2P digital currency compatible with Bitcoin mining, but it uses an innovative proof-of-stake system to provide most of the network security instead of proof-of-work like Bitcoin. "Security level of the network is not dependent on energy consumption in the long term thus providing an energy efficient and more cost-competitive peer-to-peer crypto-currency," PPC's white paper says. Up to 2 billion PPcoins are currently allowed to be created. PPcoins trade on a few exchanges where its current value is just shy of $.02 and  Find out more about PPcoin here.

Terracoin

Launched in the fall of 2012, Terracoin (TRC) is one of the newest decentralized, person-to-person digital currencies, also modeled after Bitcoin's protocol. Twice as many Terracoins (42 million) will be produced as Bitcoins which makes them easier to mine. With Terracoin, only the "longest" blockchain gets used by the network, thus preventing any malicious nodes making it even more secure. Terracoin trades on multiple exchanges and its current value is around $.092, or .001 Bitcoins. For more info on Terracoin, go here.

Devcoin

Devcoin (DVC) is a digital crypto-currency that seeks to spur jobs and innovation. It can be merge-mined with Bitcoins, but the reward for coin generation goes heavily to open-source developers who get 90%, leaving 10% of the bounty for the miner. Besides developers and programmers, Devcoin rewards artists and writers who can earn DVCs for their work innovating the currency. The concept is to provide jobs to anyone who wants to work, payable in Devcoins. "Devcoins provide an income for everyone who wants to work, even if they live in an area with more job seekers than jobs," it says on their Wiki page. DVCs currently trade at a fraction of a penny. Find out more here.

Source: Activist Post

Zero Privacy? FBI to spy in real-time on web chats