Cold Wallet, page 32
Guy had been part of this all along. She saw it now. From the beginning. It had to be Guy who told Andrew about Henry and Murray. From inside the investigation, he’d been able to watch Jess for any sign she knew more than she should. He had waited outside the factory listening to their screams, not because he was waiting for back-up, but because he wanted to hear what they had to say. Guy had taken Bryan’s statement, destroying it along with any hope of her being able to return to medicine. He had suggested there was nothing for her, and that she leave the country. Using his contacts, he had tracked her to the isolated house at the end of an isthmus on a Greek Island. That’s how Andrew found her so quickly.
He picked up on the first ring. ‘Jess?’
‘What’s happened to Henry? What did Guy do to him?’
‘He’s safe as long as he stays quiet. I made sure he’d be okay. He was my friend.’
‘I’m sure he’s very grateful.’
‘Sarcasm Jess?’
‘I sold the cold wallet last week.’
‘Not all of it?’
‘All of it.’
‘You’re joking. You have to be. That was my money. My Bitcoin. No one, not even you would be that stupid.’
Jess listened to the sound of his breathing, now harsh and fast. He started to speak and stopped. She waited.
‘Jess?’
‘Yes.’
‘You know what you’ve done? You know you’ve ruined everything. What we had, what we were going to have — it’s gone. You know that don’t you.’
Jess had heard enough. She hung up. One of the stewards filled her glass. She told him to let the captain know she was ready to leave. The anchor chain clunked link by link against the hull, the yacht swinging free in the tide as the noise of the engine grumbled in reverse to get purchase in the water. Two men hoisted the sails, the material slapping in the breeze until they caught the wind, the boat heeling slightly as it moved out into the channel. Jess raised her glass and took a sip. She was getting used to champagne.
Three days before on the 26th of June 2019 to be precise, Jessica Davidson had opened the Vaultange cold wallets. One week earlier, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame announced he was setting up a new cryptocurrency. It would be called Libra and it was to be backed by a range of currencies. People would be able to use it to buy goods online anywhere in the world. It was the announcement the community had been waiting for. Inigo and the others in her chat group were over the moon. Cryptocurrency was here to stay.
Jess sold Bitcoin at US$12,000. From the gang’s initial investment of thirty-seven million dollars, she harvested one hundred and thirty-two million dollars. Fully funded, the Marguerite Davidson Memorial Foundation for the study of Immunological Disorders, would just be the beginning. She had plans, big plans for how she was going to put the money to good use.
Jessica Davidson stood at the stern of the yacht and raised her binoculars. She focused on the man standing on the terrace of a house she had left behind. As the distance between them grew, the man got smaller and smaller until he disappeared altogether. She put down her binoculars and went inside.
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The End
About the Author
Rosy Fenwicke is a full time writer living in Martinborough, New Zealand. In 2004 she edited, In Practice: the Lives of New Zealand Women Doctors in the 21st Century. This was published by Random House. Since then she has self-published three novels to good reviews — Death Actually, and Hot Flush and No Sweat, the first books in the Euphemia Sage Chronicles.
Rosy writes a monthly blog and newsletter to keep her Reader’s Group up to date with news, special offers and general bits and pieces. You can read her blog and join her Reader’s Group at www.rosyfenwickeauthor.com
She can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosyfenwickeauthor
Also by Rosy Fenwicke
Hot Flush: Book One in the Euphemia Sage Chronicles
She’s never backed down from a challenge. But nothing could have prepared her for her super-powered change of life.
“I absolutely loved this book. Who of us, that is, women of a certain age, would not love to develop super powers with menopause, other than being able to start sweating at the drop of a hat. The characters were engaging, the story captivating, and it kept me reading to find out what was going to happen next. I am looking forward to the next book.” Patricia: 5 Stars: Goodreads
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“I read this from cover to cover in one sitting and am eagerly awaiting Euphemia's next adventures”. Michele: Goodreads 5 Stars.
Available at all good New Zealand bookshops and online.
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No Sweat: Book Two in the Euphemia Sage Chronicles
Tracked by a pesky journalist, opportunities for developing her powers are scarce. Her family and friends are mystified, and she can’t explain.
Book Two of the Euphemia Sage Chronicles follows the fast-paced twists and turns we have come to expect from our favourite post-menopausal super heroine to reach an action-packed and satisfying conclusion.
“I enjoyed hot flush but really enjoyed ‘No Sweat’. It was a great read and the chapters flew by. It was disappointing to finish as I wanted more. So can’t wait for Euphemia’s next challenges in the next book.”5 Star Review.
Available at all good New Zealand bookshops and online.
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Box set of Euphemia Sage Chronicles also available (online only)
Death Actually
It’s the middle of winter and Queenstown, a resort town in New Zealand, is full of skiers. Betty has just died and Elka needs surgery. Kate, a talented young chef is back from London and won't get out of bed. Nick feels guilty delivering fast food to an ex-champion skier, bitter about the injury which robbed her of glory. There is a movie star in town who, won't listen to advice and Maggie can't seem to put a foot right with the new doctor in town.
Review: The Reader: NZ Booksellers Blog: ‘The author has gently moulded the strands of the story together with humour and it moves along at a brisk pace with some very satisfactory outcomes from the twists and turns she created among the characters … The underlining theme highlights strength, reliance and hope while looking to the future.’
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Review: Wardini Books: ‘Death Actually is a light and lovely read; a love story with a healthy dose of comedy, an engaging cast and multiple plot lines. It’s full of life (and death) and infiltrated my emotions enough to make me cry at the end. Definitely worth a read.’
Available at all good New Zealand bookshops and online.
Acknowledgments
This work would not have been possible without the support and advice of Josie whose patience astounds me. I am proud to be your mother. Thanks also to Barbara Henderson, who provided the first appraisal and sent me back to the drawing board. To Barbara Unkovic thank you for your meticulous editing. Felicity and Judy — my early readers, I don’t know what I would do without your support.
Thank you again to the amazing Elena for her cover design. Her work can be found at: https://99designs.com/profiles/l1graphics
And thank you to Martin Taylor at Digital Strategies for guiding this book into production.
Ganglands, by Jared Savage provided invaluable information about gangs in New Zealand and the impact of the ‘501s’ on crime.
Information about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency is plentiful but not always easy to understand. No one knows who Satoshi Nakamoto is or was. I refer interested readers to https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf — the paper which started the Bitcoin revolution.
Grateful thanks for making the journey to understanding Bitcoin easier go to Peter McCormack and his podcast ‘What Bitcoin Did’. I can highly recommend his series —Beginner’s Guide to Bitcoin.
I recommend his bi-weekly podcasts to all those setting out to learn about the meaning of money, the economies of nations and how cryptocurrency fits into the new world. https://www.whatbitcoindid.com
For information about Quadriga, interested readers can access the Ontario Securities Commission Report: https://www.osc.gov.on.ca/quadrigacxreport
Cold Wallet is a work of fiction. Anyone considering investing in cryptocurrency would be advised to take heed of the following statement.
“April 14 2020: Quadriga CX: A review by Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission: “Financial innovation has always been critical to the health of our economy and the competitiveness of our capital markets … It is equally critical that investors have confidence to access new technologies and platforms that drive this innovation and competition. To that end, the investing public should be aware that using crypto asset trading platforms carries risks and that many crypto asset trading platforms are not registered and have taken the position that they are not required to register with securities regulators. Anyone considering entrusting assets to a crypto asset trading platform should take steps to learn about the platform’s operations and approach to risk management prior to using it. This may not be possible with the current level of disclosure offered by some platforms.”
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If you would like to read more books by Rosy Fenwicke go to www.rosyfenwickeauthor.com
Glossary
Allbirds: Shoes. https://www.allbirds.co.nz
Alt-coins: Altcoins are the other cryptocurrencies launched after the success of Bitcoin. The term "altcoins" refers to all cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. As of early 2020, there were more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies by some estimates. www.investopedia.com/terms
AML or Anti-Money Laundering: Anti-money laundering (AML) refers to the laws, regulations and procedures intended to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. www.investopedia.com/terms
Bitcoin: a type of digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of mathematical problems, and which operates independently of a central bank. www./languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en
Bitcoin Halving: A Bitcoin halving event is when the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions is cut in half. This event also cuts in half Bitcoin's inflation rate and the rate at which new Bitcoins enter circulation. www.investopedia.com/bitcoin-halving
Blockchain: Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. www.ibm.com/au-en/blockchain
Catheter Study: Cardiac catheterization is a procedure used to diagnose and treat certain cardiovascular conditions. During cardiac catheterization, a long thin tube called a catheter is inserted in an artery or vein in your groin, neck or arm and threaded through your blood vessels to your heart. www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cardiac-catheterization/about
Cold Wallet: A cold wallet is a wallet which is completely offline and used for storing cryptocurrencies. www.cryptoticker.io
Crema: a layer of creamy tan froth that forms on the top of freshly made espresso www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crema
Cryptocurrency: a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority. www.investopedia.com/terms/
Decentralised Ledger: A distributed ledger is a database that is synchronized and accessible across different sites and geographies by multiple participants. ... A distributed ledger can be described as a ledger of any transactions or contracts maintained in decentralized form across different locations and people. www.investopedia.com
Fiat: Fiat money is a government-issued currency that isn't backed by a commodity such as gold. Fiat money gives central banks greater control over the economy because they can control how much money is printed. Most modern paper currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, are fiat currencies.
www.investopedia.com
Halving/ Halvening: see above.
Hardware Wallet: A hardware wallet is a special type of bitcoin wallet which stores the user's private keys in a secure hardware device. www.en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Hardware_wallet
Hot Wallet: A hot wallet is a tool that allows a cryptocurrency owner to receive and send tokens. Unlike traditional currencies, there are no dedicated banks or physical wallets that can be used to keep cryptocurrency holdings secure. www.investopedia.com
Private Key: A private key in the context of Bitcoin is a secret number that allows bitcoins to be spent. Every Bitcoin wallet contains one or more private keys, which are saved in the wallet file. ... Because the private key is the "ticket" that allows someone to spend bitcoins, it is important that these are kept secret and safe.
Public Key: A bitcoin public key is another large number but allows bitcoin to be locked and received. It's called a public key because it is meant to be shared publicly and enables you to receive funds.
Miner: Mining involves Blockchain miners who add bitcoin transaction data to Bitcoin's global public ledger of past transactions. In the ledgers, blocks are secured by Blockchain miners and are connected to each other forming a chain. ... In the same manner, a lot of computing power is consumed in the process of mining bitcoins. www.intellipaat.com/blog/tutorial/blockchain-tutorial
Mining: Bitcoin mining is the process of creating new bitcoin by solving a computational puzzle. Bitcoin mining is necessary to maintain the ledger of transactions upon which bitcoin is based. Miners have become very sophisticated over the last several years using complex machinery to speed up mining operations. www.investopedia.com
Mining Rig. Rig: A mining rig is a computer system used for mining bitcoins. The rig might be a dedicated miner where it was procured, built and operated specifically for mining or it could otherwise be a computer that fills other needs, such as performing as a gaming system, and is used to mine only on a part-time basis. www.en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_rig
Node: A server or storage device which stores the entire Blockchain and runs a Bitcoin client software that peruses all transaction data and the Blockchain to check if they conform to Bitcoin protocol. www.blog.unocoin.com/bitcoin-miners-vs-bitcoin-nodes
Satoshi Nakamoto : the name used by the presumed pseudonymous person or persons who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin white paper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, Nakamoto also devised the first blockchain database. In the process, Nakamoto was the first to solve the double-spending problem for digital currency using a peer-to-peer network. Nakamoto was active in the development of bitcoin up until December 2010. Many people have claimed, or have been claimed, to be Satoshi Nakamoto. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto
Satoshi or Sats: “Sats” is short for Satoshis, the smallest unit of Bitcoin (BTC). One Satoshi (sat) is equal to 0.00000001 BTC (one hundred millionth of a Bitcoin). In other words, there are 100,000,000 satoshis in a Bitcoin. www.cryptocurrencyfacts.com/what-are-sats
Whale: A bitcoin whale is a term that refers to individuals or entities that hold large amounts of bitcoin , according to Investopedia. There are around 1,000 individuals who own 40% of the market.
Rosy Fenwicke, Cold Wallet
