Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks

Minimalist · Jun 26, 2018

Why Bitcoin’s about to give up one of its closely guarded secrets

Roll up, roll up for the big reveal – the Bitcoin Core developers are finally set to unveil the not-as-secret-as-it-should-be private key that allows them to send messages to everyone on the entire Bitcoin network.

The long-delayed disclosure is the final nail in the coffin for Bitcoin’s alert system, an unwanted relic from its past that’s been undergoing a slow and careful send off for a couple of years now.
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https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/20...o-give-up-one-of-its-closely-guarded-secrets/

guest · Jun 26, 2018

Facebook reverses its crypto ad ban
June 26, 2018
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/26/facebook-reverses-its-crypto-ad-ban/

As there’s clearly too much ad revenue potential to ignore, Facebook today announced it’s reversing its cryptocurrecy ad ban effective immediately. The decision comes with a few caveats, however. The company says it will allow ads and related content from “pre-approved advisers,” but will still not allow ads promoting binary options and initial coin offerings.

While it admitted that banning all crypto advertising was a broad change, the company said that its new policy would “improve the integrity and security of our ads, and to make it harder for scammers to profit from a presence on Facebook.”
Facebook explains its new requirements will keep some crypto advertisers from being able to hawk their businesses on the social network, but adds that its policy in this area continues to be a work in progress.

Facebook says the full crypto ad ban is lifted today for approved advertisers.
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guest · Jun 27, 2018

Lightning Network has 1% success rate with transactions larger than $300
Here's why Lightning Network can't guarantee successful transactions above a few cents
June 26, 2018
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/06/26/lighting-network-transactions/

Lightning Network, a technology often touted as the solution to Bitcoin’s scalability problem, has been growing leaps and bounds in popularity in the recent months in spite of being at a nascent stage.

Lightning Network can only ensure 100 percent success rate for transactions of up to three cents, a report by cryptocurrency research firm Diar suggests.

Lightning Network acts as a “second layer” to a payments blockchain, allowing for faster transactions with very little transaction fees. The Network works by creating “channels” between nodes.
[...] the wallet now acts as a ‘payments channel,’ which can be used to pay the cryptocurrency without requiring to register the transaction on the blockchain.

Update 16:30 UTC, June 26 [...] Osuntokun has clarified that the maximum payment size on the Lightning Network currently stands at 4,294,967 satoshis – or about $260 at the time of writing.
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guest · Jun 27, 2018

ING Bank Survey Reveals Interest in Crypto Will Double in Near Future
June 27, 2018
https://cointelegraph.com/news/ing-bank-survey-reveals-interest-in-crypto-will-double-in-near-future

Research company Ipsos on behalf of ING Bank B.V. has conducted a study on how cryptocurrencies are perceived across Europe, Australia and the U.S., which reveals that interest in the technology is expected to double in the future.

According to the study, 66 percent of Europeans have heard of cryptocurrency, of which 77 percent are men and 55 percent are women; 35 percent agreed that crypto is the “future of spending online,” while 35 percent said it will increase in value in the following 12 months.

The share of awareness of crypto is equal to or exceeds 50 percent in every surveyed country, with the highest rate in Austria (79 percent) and Poland (77 percent). In the U.S., 57 percent of respondents have heard of cryptocurrency.
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Study: https://think.ing.com/uploads/reports/ING_International_Survey_Mobile_Banking_2018.pdf

guest · Jun 27, 2018

Sacramento Kings, the new cryptocurrency miners on the block
Ethereum mining for charity: Yay or nay?
June 27, 2018
https://www.cnet.com/news/sacramento-kings-the-new-cryptocurrency-miners-on-the-block/

The tech-friendly Sacramento Kings are tapping into the world of crypto miners.

The NBA franchise on Wednesday said it's launching a charitable program called "MiningforGood" with MiningStore.com to mine cryptocurrency at the Golden 1 Center, the Kings' home arena in Sacramento. The basketball team will use MiningStore's "Imperium" machines to mine the the Ethereum cryptocurrency.

"Through MiningForGood, not only will we raise funds to help with workforce development and training, we aim to inspire the next generation of tinkerers and thinkers to create change in their own community and around the globe."

The Kings say they're the first sports team to mine digital coins.
This isn't the Kings' first time employing cryptocurrency. The team was the first sports team to accept Bitcoin in 2014.
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Minimalist · Jun 27, 2018

World’s Second Largest Crypto Exchange Binance Resumes Operations After ‘Risk Warning’

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has resumed trading a day after suspending activities due to system upgrade, followed by a warning from their risk management system, a statement confirms June 27.
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/worl...binance-resumes-operations-after-risk-warning

Minimalist · Jun 28, 2018

Line to launch crypto exchange in July

Mobile messaging service Line is hopping on the blockchain bandwagon with a new cryptocurrency exchange. Called Bitbox, the exchange will be available for all users globally except Japan and the United States and is scheduled to launch next month.
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https://www.techinasia.com/line-crypto-exchange-july

guest · Jun 28, 2018

Drug dealers busted by US authorities were relying on Bitcoin for anonymity
PSA: Bitcoin is NOT anonymous
June 27, 2018
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/06/27/drug-bitcoin-anonymous/

There has been increased crackdown globally on illicit uses of Bitcoin over the last few years. But it seems that has not deterred one of the virtual currency’s earliest adopters — the “dark web users” — from using it to buy and sell illegal things online.
[...] ‘undercover operation’ of the US Department of Justice against narcotic vendors found that most of them were using Bitcoin as means of financial transactions.

It is surprising that most of the vendors were using Bitcoins for transactions. The fact that Bitcoin isn’t anonymous has been known for a long, long time — so maybe the drug dealers should’ve seen it coming.

A research conducted at Princeton University last year concluded that the identity of people behind Bitcoin transactions can be easily revealed utilizing web trackers and cookies (not the ones you can eat).
Bitcoin.org explicitly warns users on its website that Bitcoin is not anonymous.

It is no wonder that privacy coins are throwing governments across the globe in a frenzy. Cryptocurrency like Monero make it much harder for authorities to trace owners and flow of transactions.
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guest · Jun 28, 2018

Kik tests its Kin cryptocurrency with 1,000 random users
June 27, 2018
https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/27/kik-tests-its-kin-cryptocurrency-with-1000-random-users/

Chat app Kik today introduced its Kin cryptocurrency to a limited number of customers for the first time. A randomly selected 1,000 users will be the first to use the cryptocurrency.

Initial Kin currency given free to all users of the app can only be spent on new app themes. This marks the first time the chat app’s 15 million monthly active users will be given the choice to customize the chat background, but the use case is far from the ambitious plans Kik has for its cryptocurrency.

The more users engage with content and spend time on the platform, the more Kin they can earn to do things like purchase premium content or other goods within the Kin Marketplace or elsewhere online with its Ethereum-based cryptocurrency.

In May, Kik created a Stellar-based blockchain to operate in tandem with its Ethereum-based blockchain and address scalability issues encountered with Ethereum.
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ronjor · Jun 29, 2018

Bitcoin falls below $6,000, and one crypto trader says it will go lower. Here are alternatives to buy

Kellie Ell @KellieAutumnEll
Cryptocurrency trader Ran Neu-Ner says the price will likely fall to around $5,350 in the next two weeks.
Still, he remains bullish on long-term investments in bitcoin.
Meanwhile, he tells investors to consider two other coins.
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Minimalist · Jun 29, 2018

Poland: Crypto Industry Group Blasts Banks for Refusing Accounts to Crypto Businesses

Fifteen “financial institutions” have become the subject of a formal complaint to a Polish government authority by cryptocurrency group the Polish Bitcoin Association (PBS), it confirmed June 27.

The PBS, which has not published the full text of its complaint, wrote to the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (OCCP) June 26, claiming that local banks were deliberately denying service to cryptocurrency entities and selectively closing accounts.
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/pola...ks-for-refusing-accounts-to-crypto-businesses

guest · Jun 29, 2018

IOST Launches Blockchain Testnet to the Public
June 29, 2018
https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/29/iost-launches-blockchain-testnet-to-the-public/

IOST, an enterprise-grade blockchain infrastructure for online services, officially launched its testnet to the public today. Its Testnet v0.5 ‘Everest’ achieves one of the highest transaction per second speeds in the blockchain industry and includes a range of functionality for developers to build upon.

The Everest Test Network is deployed in a real-world environment and runs on multiple nodes deployed in Tokyo, London, Singapore, Mumbai, Frankfurt, Seoul, and Montreal.

IOST has been aggressively expanding its ecosystem over the last three months and recently launched two separate organizations with strong institutional backing to develop the IOST ecosystem: [...]
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guest · Jun 29, 2018

Thousands of cryptocurrency projects are already dead
June 29, 2018
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/29/thousands-of-cryptocurrency-projects-are-already-dead/

Two sites that are actively cataloging failed crypto projects, Coinopsy and DeadCoins, have found that over a 1,000 projects have failed so far in 2018. The projects range from true abandonware to outright scams, and include BRIG, a scam by two “brothers,” Jack and Jay Brig, and Titanium, a project that ended in an SEC investigation.

Obviously any new set of institutions must create their own sets of rules and that is exactly what is happening in the blockchain world. But when faced with the potential for massive token fundraising, bigger problems arise. While everyone expects startups to fail, the sheer amount of cash flooding these projects is a big problem. When a startup has too much fuel too quickly the resulting conflagration ends up consuming both the company and the founders, and there is little help for the investors.
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guest · Jun 30, 2018

Report suggests Tether market manipulation on Kraken cryptocurrency exchange
The research found multiple peculiarities in the trading patter
June 29, 2018
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/06/29/tether-kraken-market-manipulation/

A Bloomberg report published today suggests the possibility of wash trading of Tether on cryptocurrency exchange desk Kraken. The study found frequent repetitions of oddly specific orders, going into five decimal points. — highlighting the possibility of bot trading.

Bloomberg pulled data of 56,000 Tether trades from Kraken’s public order book that happened between May 1 and June 22. The research found the cryptocurrency’s trading on the exchange desk to be defying the principles of economics. [...] While most cryptocurrencies and other securities see fluctuations in price based on large buy or sell orders placed on exchange desks, it doesn’t seem to hold true for Tether.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time that Tether is facing allegations of market manipulation.
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Minimalist · Jun 30, 2018

Payments Provider Qiwi Launches Russia’s ‘First’ Crypto Investment Bank

Qiwi Blockchain Teсhnologies (QBT) has launched a crypto investment dubbed “HASH,” local news outlet Kommersant reports June 29. QBT is a subsidiary of Russia’s leading payment service provider Qiwi.

HASH, built on a “classic investment banking model” according to Kommersant, will provide a platform for initial coins offerings (ICO). Yakov Barinsky, QBT’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), explained that HASH would “assist companies to go through the fundraising stage.”
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/medi...aunches-russia-s-first-crypto-investment-bank

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Bitcoin & Beyond: Can Blockchain Bring In 'The Masses' To Realize Its Full Potential?

One of the many great contradictions related to the explosion of interest in cryptocurrencies is that for all the hype surrounding blockchain, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and the digital currencies it underpins, it has yet to attract widespread adoption or investment from outside the global tech communities. So, could this state of play change any time soon?

According to a recent survey by CreditCoin, a leading cryptocurrency purchasing platform, which analysed responses from 1,000 consumers in the United States (U.S.) in February 2018, almost 40% in their sample revealed had owned a cryptocurrency.
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogera...g-in-the-masses-to-realize-its-full-potential

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Floods in China Heavily Damage Major Crypto Mining Operation

Recent floods in the Sichuan province of China have reportedly resulted in heavy damage to a major cryptocurrency mining operation in the area. The news was published on a local blockchain and crypto information platform Golden Finance, June 30.

Ecns, the official English-language outlet of the China News Service (CNS), has reported that Sichuan and four other provinces in China experienced heavy rains on June 27 and 28, resulting in floods.
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/loca...-heavily-damage-major-crypto-mining-operation

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Over 1000 Crypto Projects Are Considered ‘Dead’ Now

More than a thousand of crypto projects are “already dead” as of June 30, 2018, according to a recent TechCrunch report. The news outlet has based its claim on data from two websites: Coinopsy and DeadCoins.

Coinopsy provides daily reviews of various cryptocurrencies, including ones that are already “dead.” It defines a “dead” token as exhibiting at least one of the following: “abandoned, scammed, website dead, no nodes, wallet issues, no social updates, low volume or developers have walked away from the project.”
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/techcrunch-over-1000-crypto-projects-are-considered-dead-now

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Israel’s coming crypto laws could set example for the rest of the world

Estimates indicate that in 2017 Israel-linked ICOs raised almost $500 million, a remarkable slice of the total ICO pie that year. Israel’s regulators have also been alive to the changing financial landscape. This year has seen a flurry of output from various Israeli authorities seeking to make sense of the new global cryptographic reality.

In January the Israel Tax Authority issued a circular on the taxation of digital tokens; in March the Israel Securities Authority released its highly detailed “Interim Report on the Regulation of Decentralized Cryptocurrencies” (with a follow-up report due out around October); and in October legislation will come into force, defining virtual currencies as “financial assets” and mandating licensing for related services.
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https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/30/...-could-set-example-for-the-rest-of-the-world/

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Thailand Leads in Crypto by Skipping the Big Debate

Securities, or not securities. That is the crypto question.

Except in Thailand.

While regulators around the world have grappled with the issue of what category digital currencies and assets fall into, Thailand has skipped the debate altogether.

Instead, using an emergency decree that came into effect earlier this year, authorities wrote an entirely new law.

The result is the Digital Asset Business Decree, which defines both cryptocurrencies (a medium of exchanging goods) and digital tokens (rights to participate in an investment, or to receive specific goods). The government also amended its tax law so it can extract some revenue from the budding industry.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/view/arti...nd-leads-in-crypto-by-skipping-the-big-debate

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Here's what it's like to visit 'Crypto Valley' — Switzerland's picturesque blockchain version of Silicon Valley

Cryptocurrencies and related-crypto technology have become one of the hottest areas of investment and entrepreneurial activity over the last few years, with billions invested in the sector.

Crypto technology, sometimes called distributed ledger technology or blockchain, could potentially drive efficiencies in existing businesses and create new business opportunities by cutting out middlemen and decentralizing services. Many evangelists liken its game-changing potential to that of the internet.

Despite its decentralizing drive, development of the technology has tended to cluster around certain locations: Silicon Valley, New York, Malta, Gibraltar, Singapore, and Switzerland are all key hubs.

Switzerland is home to "Crypto Valley," a cluster of companies and foundations in the small town of Zug just outside of Zurich.
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http://uk.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-in-zug-switzerlands-crypto-valley-2018-6

Minimalist · Jul 1, 2018

Why Facebook’s crypto ad policies don’t really matter

Although portrayed in some media as a ‘reversal’ of its position, the updated policy actually only provides crypto related advertisers with a little respite. The previous prohibition on ICO advertising, for example, is maintained.

While other cryptocurrency-related adverts may ultimately run on the platform, they will need to ‘apply’ first. The application requires advertisers to group their proposed notice under four main labels. These are cryptocurrency products and services, education on cryptocurrency, cryptocurrency industry news, and other content related to cryptocurrency products and services.
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https://bravenewcoin.com/news/why-facebooks-crypto-ad-policies-dont-really-matter/

guest · Jul 1, 2018

DNS Poisoning or BGP Hijacking Suspected Behind Trezor Wallet Phishing Incident
July 1, 2018
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ected-behind-trezor-wallet-phishing-incident/

The team behind the Trezor multi-cryptocurrency wallet service has discovered a phishing attack against some of its users that took place over the weekend.

The Trezor team says "signs point toward DNS poisoning or BGP hijacking" as the means attackers hijacked legitimate traffic meant for the official wallet.trezor.io domain but redirected these users to a malicious server hosting a fake website. An investigation is still underway to determine the exact cause.
Incident spotted after HTTPS certificate error
The incident came to light after users complained that they encountered an invalid HTTPS certificate when landing on Trezor's web wallet portal.
This error alerted the Trezor community, whose members quickly reported the incident to the Trezor team, who later confirmed the phishing attempt and warned users about the attack on early Sunday morning (US timezones).

It is too early to determine or estimate if the attacker stole user funds or the number of stolen funds.
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Minimalist · Jul 2, 2018

EU Parliament: Naysayers Like Economist Robert Shiller ‘Mistaken’ About Crypto

The European Parliament has told lawmakers not to “ban” or “ignore” cryptocurrencies in a new report released this week, forecasting they “will remains with us for a while.”

The report, ‘Virtual currencies and central banks monetary policy: challenges ahead’ commissioned by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, contains a wealth of supportive statements on virtual currencies (‘VCs’).
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https://cointelegraph.com/news/eu-p...conomist-robert-shiller-mistaken-about-crypto

Minimalist · Jul 2, 2018

Fake Bitcoin exchange traps drug dealers on the dark web

As around 35 alleged drug vendors have found out to their cost, you never know who you’ll meet on the dark web.

In the case of the customers of one money laundering operation, it turned out to be agents working for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to a Department of Justice announcement, the authorities spent a year investigating dozens of individuals using the front, turning the bitcoins they had received for illegal drug sales into dollars.
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https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/20...-exchange-traps-drug-dealers-on-the-dark-web/

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