The former White House economic adviser, Gary Cohn, has just started a new career in blockchain.

Announced in a press release on Friday, the ex-Goldman Sachs president is to advise fintech startup Spring Labs , who build blockchain-focused solutions for securing and sharing consumer credit data.

Cohn has apparently been interested in blockchain tech since before his time under Trump, commenting he had looked into its potential while serving in the White House.

“We all know all the inefficiencies of the existing currency world and blockchain clearly helps to eliminate them at some point in the future,” Cohn told the Financial Times.

Spring Labs was launched in 2017 by the founders of US consumer loans firm Avant, and soon raised $15 million in seed funding to build a blockchain-based system that would securely anonymize consumer credit data.

Cohn famously resigned from his role in the White House after protesting Trumps plan to introduce steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Before you get all hepped up on ‘hopium’ and fully activate bull mode , Cohn did tell reporters he wasn’t all that keen on “individual cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin,” and that he was mostly into general blockchain tech like smart contracts.

Oh well, cheers to you, Mr. Cohn. I bet no matter what happens, this job will be so much better than your last.

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Steam removes controversial game accused of mining cryptocurrency

Steam has removed “trivial platformer” game Abstractism from its store following accusations that the game is surreptitiously stealing users’ computing power to mine cryptocurrency.

“We have removed Abstractism and banned its developer from Steam for shipping unauthorized code, trolling with content, and scamming customers with deceptive in-game items,” Doug Lombardi, VP of Marketing at Steam, told Hard Fork in an email.

Eurogamer reports the story first surfaced after YouTuber SidAlpha highlighted how the game was using excessive amounts of GPU and CPU resources, despite being a very visually and technically simple game.

Under further scrutiny, it became evident that even the game mechanics were focused around encouraging users to either play the game frequently, for long periods of time, or to leave the game open and running for hours at a time.

In a contradictory Steam update the developer stated that they would never mine Bitcoin because it is outdated, rather they would favour Monero. Yet, in the same update, they go on to deny that the game is a crypto-miner.

Of course this could just be a bad translation, as in the most recent update they reaffirm that the game is not a crypto-miner. They even provide instructions on how to turn off the functions that seem to be hogging gamer’s system resources, which would allow a user to play the game without burning out their system.

But the problems didn’t stop here, the game was also scamming unwitting Steam users out of sizeable sums of money. Members on Team Fortress 2 (TF2) forums complained about being duped into buying expensive items they thought were meant for TF2 only to discover the items were in reality for Abstractism.

Considering the swath of criticism aimed at Abstractism, it’s clear there was something fishy going on with the game. All signs seem to suggest the “unauthorized code” was likely a crypto-miner – too bad Steam is keeping the lid on the exact reason for the removal.

Satoshi Nakamoto ‘wannabe’ Craig Wright in talks to settle multi-billion dollar Bitcoin suit

Craig Steven Wright, the man who’s claimed to be Bitcoin ’s anonymous creator countless times, is down to his last hope in the epic $10 billion Dave Kleiman lawsuit : settlement.

Accor ding to a Florida Federal Court document , which was submitted yesterday, Wright and the Kleiman estate have requested an extension on all deadlines in a bid to begin settlement talks.

“The parties are currently engaged in good faith settlement discussions. To that end, Dr. Wright and Plaintiffs respectfully request a 30-day extension of all discovery and case deadlines to facilitate these discussions,” the document reads.

“Reaching a final binding settlement agreement is in the best interests of both parties, and a 30-day extension of all case deadlines (including the trial setting) would enable both parties to devote their full efforts to that goal,” adds the document .

Wright, who is seemingly building a patent empire , is notorious in the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain.

In December 2015, two simultaneous investigations by Wired and Gizmodo claimed he could have invented Bitcoin . However, subsequent reports raised serious concerns about Wright’s legitimacy.

His lawsuit with Kleiman’s state was sparked in February 2018, after Dave’s brother Ira filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida over the rights to a significant stash of Bitcoin .

Ira argues that his brother’s Bitcoin and his intellectual property rights were “seized” in a fraudulent scheme operated by Wright after Dave passed away in 2013.

Ira is suing Wright for half the coins which were supposedly mined by Wright and Kleiman between 2009 and 2011 — approximately 1 million BTC ($10 billion) – as well half of Wright’s related intellectual property rights.

While the mystery of Satoshi Nakamoto ‘s true identity remains, it looks like Wright and the Kleiman state may come to an agreement – finally.