NZ crypto firm Cryptopia closes after damaging hacker theft

(May 25) Cryptopia Limited, a New Zealand firm which operated a cryptocurrency exchange with over 300,000 accounts from around the globe has filed for US bankruptcy protect after hackers managed to steal more than US $16 million from the company.

Firm started as a hobby

Back in 2014 Cryptopia's founders started the firm as a hobby. It grew quickly in 2017 as the price of Bitcoin soared. However, hackers managed to steal client assets from digital wallets that were stored with the company in January of this year. The exchange reopened in March so that account holders could exchange their assets for Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Dogecoin. However shareholders decided to close the company. An earlier report claims the company suffered what seems an even larger loss: "January 14 was indeed a bad day for the New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange as it was on this day that the exchange lost around $23 million worth of user's cryptocurrencies to hackers." However, the $23 million is in New Zealand dollars and is equivalent to about $16 million US.

A recent article notes: "In March, the exchange appeared to have already handled the problems, allowing account holders to access the trading platform again for exchanging their assets. However, when the platform saw more issues, the shareholders collaborated and decided to fold the company, as documented in a declaration filed with the courts."

Firm still has tens of million in digital assets

Liquidators are trying to collect the assets and distribute them to account holders. The liquidators are faced with finding out which account holders own which assets. Unfortunately the information they need is on servers hosted by an Arizona company that has terminated their agreement with Cryptopia and is demanding payment of about $2 million.

The liquidators worry that if they do not pay the two million then the data they need could be overwritten or lost. The liquidator said: “This would be potentially catastrophic for the liquidators and account holders." Although efforts have been made to recover the hacked wallets so far none have been recovered.

Every Cryptopia account holder is a potential creditor in the liquidation. Trade creditors are also owed about $2.6 million as well.

Cryptopia

Wikipedia describes Cryptopia: "Cryptopia was a New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange based in Christchurch, which was the target of a $16 million USD theft in January 2019. The exchange closed about May 15, 2019 and began liquidation. .Cryptopia was founded in 2014 by Rob Dawson and Adam Clark. They quit their jobs in 2017 in order to work on the exchange full time. .From May to December 2017 Cryptopia grew from 30,000 to 1,000,000 users."

Previously published in the Digital Journal

New Zealand firm declares four-day week trial a definite success

Perpetual Guardian, a New Zealand business that manages trusts, wills, and estate planning, claims that its trial of a four-day work week over March and April this year was a success. The company will be adopting the new schedule full time.

Academics found positive results from reduced work week

About 250 staff members in the company chose the four-day week of eight hour days. They still got paid for five. The reduced work week was voluntary. Those workers who did not opt in were able to start or finish early in order to avoid traffic congestion or take care of child care commitments. The company checked to ensure that their trial conformed to New Zealand labor laws.

Academics who studied the trial found that staff at the firm's offices around the country reported lower stress levels, higher levels of job satisfaction and an improved sense of work-life balance.

Two New Zealand academics collected data before and after the trial period. In November last year, just over half of the staff (54 percent) felt they could balance work and home commitments. After the trial this number jumped to 78 percent. Stress levels decreased by seven percentage points during the trial. Stimulation, commitment and a sense of empowerment at work all improved significantly. Overall life satisfaction increased by five percent.

Founder aimed to increase productivity

Andrew Barnes, the founder of Perpetual Guardian, initially undertook the trial after observing the pressure that some of his workers were under to manage their personal and professional lives. He thought that if workers had an extra day to sort out issues to do with their home life then they would be more productive and focused at work. As you can see on the appended video Barnes had been reading reports that showed much time during the working day was unproductive.

Barnes said: “For us, this is about our company getting improved productivity from greater workplace efficiencies … there’s no downside for us. The right attitude is a requirement to make it work – everyone has to be committed and take it seriously for us to create a viable long-term model for our business.”

Workers were involved in constructing the new system

Helen Delaney, a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland Business School, claimed employees’ motivation and commitment to work increased since they were included in the planning of the experiment. Employees played a key role in designing how the four-day week would be managed so as not to negatively impact productivity.

Delaney pointed out: “Employees designed a number of innovations and initiatives to work in a more productive and efficient manner, from automating manual processes to reducing or eliminating non-work-related internet usage,” So this was not just a top down imposition on the employees. Barnes allowed his employees an active role in designing the new system.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Pastafarianism wedding takes place in New Zealand

The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) is the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster otherwise known as Pastafarianism.

The FSM was first described in a letter by Bobby Henderson in 2005 written to protest the decision of the Kansas State Board of Education to allow the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution in public school classes:

 In that letter, Henderson satirized creationism by professing his belief that whenever a scientist carbon-dates an object, a supernatural creator that closely resembles spaghetti and meatballs is there "changing the results with His Noodly Appendage." Henderson argued that his beliefs were just as valid as intelligent design, and called for equal time in science classrooms alongside intelligent design and evolution.[11] After Henderson published the letter on his website, the Flying Spaghetti Monster rapidly became an Internet phenomenon and a symbol of opposition to the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.[12]

The Church is a legally recognized religion in Poland and also in the Netherlands and New Zealand. In New Zealand, Pastafarian representatives have been authorized to celebrate weddings. In the U.S. on the other hand, a federal judge has ruled that Pastafarianism is not a real religion. The Church has its own gospels. Its creation myth is as follows:The Gospel begins with the creation of the universe by an invisible and undetectable Flying Spaghetti Monster.[13] On the first day, the Flying Spaghetti Monster separated the water from the heavens; on the second, because He could not tread water for long and had grown tired of flying, He created the land—complemented by a beer volcano.[19] Satisfied, the Flying Spaghetti Monster overindulged in beer from the beer volcano and woke up hungover.[22] Between drunken nights and clumsy afternoons, the Flying Spaghetti Monster produced seas and land (for a second time, accidentally, because he forgot that he created it the day before) along with Heaven and a "midgit",[23] which he named Man.[24] Man and an equally short woman lived happily in the Olive Garden of Eden for some time until the Flying Spaghetti Monster caused a global flood in a cooking accident.[19]

In New Zealand, Toby Ricketts and Marianna Young, were the first to tie the noodly knot. The ceremony was carried out by an ordained "ministeroni" on a chartered vessel decorated as a pirate ship with attendees dressed in pirate costumes at the scenic south island town of Akaroa. Instead of vows there are "terms of engagement." Young said that she did not want to get married any other way as a conventional marriage did not appeal to her. Karen Martyn, who was the ministeroni, was pleased that the ceremony constituted a formal recognition that the pastafarians were a church. While many of the practices involve humor and parody, they deny that they are purely satirical and are campaigning as a legitimate religion. Martyn said that many more pastafarian weddings were planned in New Zealand including some with same sex couples. Jeff Montgomery, Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages in New Zealand said that his role was solely to apply relevant legislation: "That is one of the things that we celebrate in New Zealand is the great diversity of people who live here and the openness we have to different viewpoints." The FSM group has its own website.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/odd+news/church-of-flying-spaghetti-monster-holds-legal-wedding-in-n-z/article/463114#ixzz46bCUHNSe

Domino's to launch robot pizza delivery service in New Zealand

Adding to other innovations using new technology, Domino's Pizza is launching a new robotic delivery service using DRU or Domino's Robotic Unit built in Australia with the help of Marathon Robotics.

Pizza places have long used new technology to help pizza delivery by using apps such as Kinect. This allows hungry x-Box gamers to order and build a pizza through "hand motions or voice commands" to build their pizzas. However, Domino's added a voice ordering tool for its mobile app. The voice assistant is named Dom. Dom is able to recognize natural speech patterns. You can tell it you want to order a pizza and it will ask what kind: "Domino's says that the service "delivers a human-like, conversational customer service experience," that should speed up the ordering process compared to dealing with an actual human." Now Domino's has gone a giant step further by possibly eliminating the pizza delivery person as well.

The DRU was developed by Domino's Australia from a military robot. The DRU contains Domino's own GPS tracking data. It has a sensory system that uses lasers to avoid running into obstacles in its path on the way to the customer's address. The unit has four wheels and travels up to 20 kilometers per hour and is designed to cruise on footpaths, trails, and bike paths. When it reaches the proper address, the customer enters a security code through their phone that gets the robot to open a locked compartment to retrieve the pizza. The project began in 2015.

The battery-powered DRU will be undergoing trials in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It is billed as "the world's first autonomous delivery vehicle." The DRU can complete deliveries within a 20 mile radius on a single charge. It is just under 3 feet tall and can deliver up to 10 pizza's in its heated compartment. The start date for the trial has yet to be announced. Transport Minister, Simon Bridges, said: "This is an exciting opportunity for New Zealand... over the last 12 months I’ve been actively and aggressively promoting New Zealand as a test bed for new transport technology trials."

High-paying doctor's position in New Zealand has no takers

Dr. Alan Kenny co-owns a medical practice in Tokoroa New Zealand. He has been searching for a General Practiioner for two years even though he is offering an income of $400,000 or 190,000 pounds annually.

Kenny, originally from the UK, told reporters from the New Zeland Herald that his practice has "exploded" and that he is overworked. He has had to cancel holidays several times as he has been unable to find anyone to fill in for him. Kenny said:

 “I can offer them a really, really amazing income; it’s incredible. My practice has exploded in the last year and the more patients you list, the more money you get. But it just gets too much at the end of the day.”Two years ago his daughter, Sarah, came to work as a GP, learn from her father, and help relieve some of the pressure. She is the only New Zealand doctor working at the practice.

There is even more than the hefty salary offered by Kenny. He also offers the right applicant three months annual leave, no night or weekend work, and a half share of the practice. There are 6,000 patients associated with the practice. Kenny has not even had a single applicant the last four months. Kenny said:“I love my work and I would like to stay but I hit my head against a brick wall trying to attract doctors. If it’s hard enough to get doctors to work alongside me, it’s going to be a devil of a job to get doctors to replace me.”

Linda Reynolds, the New Zealand General Practice Network's deputy chief executive, said that the majority of rural GP vacancies were filled by international medical graduates(IMGs). The typical salary for a rural GP was between NZ $150,000 to $280,000. Vacancies took between two to three years to fill. Most of the IMg'S just come on a short term basis. Reynolds said that contributing factors to the shortage of rural GPs were isolation, lack of social activities, and poor access to broadband networks. Four medical recruitment teams have been unable to find Kenny a suitable candidate over the last two years.

Tokoroa is a town of over 13,000 people in the north-central part of the northern island of New Zealand. Dr. Kenny noted that the medical school in Auckland was the largest in New Zealand. The students often came from wealthy families in the Auckland area who did not want to practice in rural areas. He said if more students were recruited from rural areas more might be available.

While owning a practice can increase a doctor's income, many doctors prefer not to own a practice because of the extra work it involves. Dr. Kenny noted that just the other day he saw 43 patients while the limit recommended by the Royal College of GP's is just 25. Doctors in Tokoroa are high earners considering the median income is just $17,000 annually for those 15 and over. Tokoroa has some of New Zealand's cheapest housing. Many doctors, however, commute from larger centers such as Cambridge where there are better opportunities for schooling for older children. Tokoroa is a relatively economically depressed area with unemployment being at a high 22 percent.

Rural areas are not alone in facing a doctor shortage in New Zealand. A survey by the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners in 2015 found 37 per cent of rural practices had a vacancy in 2014 compared with 42 per cent of urban practices. The vacancies in rural practices took longer to fill. Those attracted to Tokoroa are likely to be male, older, work long hours and are trained in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The same shortage of qualified doctors for rural areas is found in the Canadian prairies. The closest hospital from where I live in Manitoba has only two doctors and both are leaving. As in New Zealand, many rural doctors are trained overseas, Our two local doctors come from South Africa. For some time the hospital has been trying to recruit new doctors but so far with no luck at all. One doctor has agreed to stay on for another six months. The town has less than a thousand people whereas most immigrant doctors want to practice in a large city such as Winnipeg.

New Zealand environmentalist want New Zealand cat-free

Gareth Morgan, a New Zealand economist and environmentalist, campaigns to make New Zealand a cat-free country. He claims that cats have contributed to the elimination of nine native species of birds.

In an interview with the New York TImes, Morgan maintains that "cats are a 'friendly neighborhood serial killer' of birds." Of course so are native hawks and other bird predators. It is not even certain that cats have contributed to the elimination of those species that are now extinct, because cats also help get rid of rodents that feed on their eggs. As for being serial killers that is just rhetorical overkill. All those Kiwi automobile drivers are serial killers as well. I imagine bird road kill is as common in New Zealand as elsewhere.

Morgan has his own website here

In an Atlantic interview by email, Morgan suggests four steps for ridding New Zealand of cats:

1. "All cats to be registered chipped and neutered — raising the barriers to cat ownership to those similarly already faced by dog owners. Chipping instead of collars is because cats more easily slip collars. [Ed: Chipping, or micro-chipping, means inserting an implant under the skin for identification.]

2. "Citizens to be encouraged to cage-trap cats wandering on their properties and turn them in to the local authority.

3. "Cats surrendered to the local authority Pound, to be euthanized if unregistered, to return to registered owner who is fined.

4. "Councils to offer free disposal of cats. Vets are prohibitively expensive."

After cats have been 'disposed of,' households would be encouraged not to obtain another pet thus ending the population of kiwi kitties as we know it."

The first step would involve considerable expense for cat-owners I should think. It would probably result in even more unregistered cats, especially since some might not want their cats neutered. Steps two and three actually happen in many places I expect. Even around here in rural Manitoba this is the case. Anyone can claim cats captured, because in this area, cats are not usually registered, though a few may have microchips. There would be certain fees charged.

Rather than being euthanized, I would rather see the cats put up for adoption at least for a certain length of time. Maybe they should be released at local dumps to help dispose of the huge amounts of food humans waste! The fourth step is to offer free disposal of cats. In Gareth propaganda language this should read: "Councils will become serial murderers of innocent cats."

Gareth's campaign is not doing that well. Only 24% answering a survey on his own website. have agreed not to replace their current cat. Gareth has a huge cat problem in New Zealand. According to the World Society for the Protection of Animals, New Zealand has the most cat owners in the entire world, and a feline population of 1.4 million in a total human population of 4.5 million. Almost half of New Zealand households, 48%, have cats.

New Zealand withdraws troops early from Afghanistan

New Zealand troops were set to withdraw from Afghanistan by September 2014 but now the plan is to withdraw many of their troops by April of 2013. Five New Zealand troops were killed in August this year.

New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman announced that the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team(PRT) will return from Afghanistan by the end of April in 203. There will be what the government calls a "sensible, orderly, and professional" early withdrawal. New Zealand has already been involved in the Afghan mission for ten years. Coleman said

:"Our success is reflected in Bamiyan's position as a leader in the transition process."

Bamiyan is the province in which the New Zealand contingent is stationed.

The government has been under pressure to withdraw troops earlier than September of 2014 after five New Zealanders were killed recently. Coleman however attributed the shortening of the period as due to the rebuilding of the Bamlyan airport which will make it impossible for New Zealand to land Hercules aircraft there. Coleman promised that New Zealand would continue to support Afghanistan.

Future support may include a few Defence Force trainers who will work at the Afghanistan National Army Officer Training Academy. The prime minister of New Zealand John Key had been signalling an earlier withdrawal for some time. Key also said that officials of ISAF(International Security Assistance Force) had also encouraged the move.

Not all the reconstruction teams will be withdrawn just 11 of the 26 original teams would return by the end of 2013. Key said:

"ISAF's view has been it's not sensible for everyone to go through the keyhole at one time."

Key claimed that the New Zealand groups had helped children go to school, improved hospital services and supported the economy of Bamiyan province. The opposition Labour Party leader David Shearer applauded the early withdrawal saying:

"Our soldiers have achieved remarkable results during the nine years that we have been on the ground in Afghanistan...Staying there any longer would not have made a significant difference to all we have achieved. There is a time to leave and this is it."

The Green Party spokesperson for defence Kennedy Graham said the troops should be withdrawn immediately:

"New Zealand has made a significant commitment to Afghanistan and the people of Bamiyan - however the PRT was never intended to be a combat unit..Sadly, the role of those serving in the provincial reconstruction team now appears to be focused more and more on patrolling a dangerous part of Bamiyan province, where our troops are being drawn into counter insurgency operations."

No doubt the withdrawal is a politically popular move.

U.S. and New Zealand authorities arrest owners of file-sharing website

As if to show that the U.S. acting for lobbyists of the recording industry can shut websites without any new laws, authorities shut down MegaUpload a very popular file sharing site. Authorities claim the site violates existing piracy laws.

Police in New Zealand working with U.S. authorities arrested the two co-founders of the website and two other staff members. A New Zealand detective inspector said about 70 police were involved and raided 10 properties.

Prosecutors call the group a Mega Conspiracy insisting that the scheme costs copyright holders more than half a billion dollars and is earning 175 million in subscriptions and advertising. If convicted the group could face long prison sentences on several charges.

MegaUpload has itself been in a court battle with the Universal Music Group. That group forced You Tube to take down an ad for MegaUpload because they claimed that it violated copyright. But the ad was made for MegaUpload by artists who also were under contract with the UMG group. MegaUpload was taking UMG to court claiming that it wrongfully forced You Tube to remove their ad.

The timing of the U.S. action is suspicious since it comes just after an entire day of protests by many groups against the SOPA anti-piracy act. Groups such as Anonymous were quick to react.

The U.S. justice department website was attacked by hackers as well as sites belonging to the recording industry trade groups and Universal Music Group. Government action in shutting down sites is not going to be costless. While the MegaUpload group may be getting rich off their racket the other side get even richer by legally gaining monopoly rights to artistic works.

Many artists actually favor the file sharing sites since they make their work much more widely available. Some public celebrities have voiced support for MegaUpload without being paid to do so. Shutting down sites such as MegaUpload many regard as simply attempts to censor the internet. For more see this Al Jazeera article and also here.

For defenders of free markets copyright and patents have always been theoretically problematic. Copyright and patents both restrict production and trade and the free flow of knowledge in the interests of returning profits to the monopoly patent or copyright holder. The result is that black and grey markets develop as the market system works to destroy the monopoly powers. Hence the state must intervene to protect the monopoly. You then get the ludicrous situation where Free Trade agreements have at their core monopoly Intellectual Property Rights. Such Rights are key to the expansion of global capital and even without world government means will be found to enforce such rights as the coöperation between New Zealand and U.S. authorities shows.

In all this the consumer has no power. The consumer to purchase legally must pay the price set by the monopoly copyright holder. But the grey and black markets offer cheaper prices often for the same quality product. It is hardly surprising that there is often much popular support for sites such as MegaUpload.