Online Cash Bitcoin Could Challenge Governments, Banks

ronjor · Mar 20, 2019

Square Is Hiring New Crypto Engineers — And It Wants to Pay Them in Bitcoin

Nikhilesh De Mar 20, 2019
Dorsey, who also founded and runs Twitter, announced Wednesday evening that Square plans to hire three or four engineers and one designer “to work full-time on open source contributions to the bitcoin/crypto ecosystem.” A Square spokesman said there was no additional information to share beyond the tweets.
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guest · Mar 21, 2019

Bitcoin Has Already Begun to Dominate Crypto Markets Again in 2019
March 19, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...gun-to-dominate-crypto-markets-again-in-2019/

Based on statistical data, the “people’s” currency known as Bitcoin will soon take charge of crypto markets by the end of this year with respect to market capitalization.
According to the recently published A.T. Kearney report, Bitcoin is expected to take hold of almost two thirds of the cryptocurrency market by the end of 2019 because cryptocurrency investors are becoming more and more risk averse towards altcoins.

One reason for Bitcoin’s growth is that it still is the key alternate currency for many, especially the innovators and the early adopters, and for those in countries where fiat currencies are collapsing. While most are still hesitant to invest in cryptocurrencies, if they do decide to take the plunge - their first option remains Bitcoin.
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guest · Mar 22, 2019

Watch out: Fake Wasabi crypto wallet out to steal your crypto
March 22, 2019
https://coingeek.com/watch-out-a-fake-wasabi-crypto-wallet-is-out-to-steal-your-crypto/

A new fake Wasabi Bitcoin Core (BTC) wallet has emerged, and it’s targeting your crypto. The wallet is an uncanny clone of the real Wasabi wallet. It comes with a fake website and for those who are not keen, it’s almost impossible to distinguish between it and the real one.

The fake wallet was first discovered by a Wasabi developer who only goes by the name nopara73 on Twitter. He pointed out that this was the first malware that imitated the Wasabi wallet.
Interestingly, three of the download links are genuine and refer users to Wasabi’s Github repository. It’s the Windows link that’s the scam. Users who click on this link trigger an automatic download of a suspicious file with an .msi extension. This file is hosted by the scam site.

Wasabi wallet has gained a cult following for its anonymity features. Launched last year in August, the wallet contains some advanced privacy features such as the integration of the Tor anonymity network.
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hawki · Mar 23, 2019

"95% of Reported Bitcoin Trading Volume Is 'Fake': Bitwise Report

A recent study conducted by Bitwise Asset Management has revealed that as much as 95% of spot bitcoin (BTC) trading volume has been “faked” - as it’s being inaccurately reported by loosely regulated or completely unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges....

In its extensive report, the research team at Bitwise analyzed the world’s top 81 crypto exchanges, in terms of trading volume, and found that financial data reported by CoinMarketCap (CMC), a leading crypto data provider, had been artificially inflated. Researchers at Bitwise claim that CMC had reported a combined $6 billion in average daily trading volume. However, the results of a study commissioned by it revealed that only $273 million of CMC’s reported BTC trading volume was “legitimate.”..."

https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...rted-on-coinmarketcap-is-fake-bitwise-report/

guest · Mar 23, 2019

Twitch Quietly Stops Accepting Cryptocurrency Payments
March 23, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/03/twitch-quietly-stops-accepting-cryptocurrency-payments/

Twitch.tv, a popular live streaming platform that as of May 2018 has over 15 million daily active users, has recently quietly stopped accepting bitcoin and bitcoin cash payments, as the options to pay with these cryptocurrencies seemingly vanished.

While it isn’t currently clear why Twitch removed the payment option, a low transaction volume could be behind it, as most users seemingly didn’t even know it was there in the first place. Some have already contacted support to figure out what’s going on. Looking at the platform’s payments options shows there’s, at press time, no way to pay using crypto.
Per another Reddit thread, StreamLabs has also dropped its support for cryptocurrencies.

In the past, companies accepting cryptocurrency payments temporarily dropped them over technical difficulties.
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guest · Mar 24, 2019

Vietnam to Soon Have a Fully-Authorized Cryptocurrency Exchange
March 24, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...e-a-fully-authorized-cryptocurrency-exchange/

Vietnam is reportedly set to soon have a fully-authorized cryptocurrency exchange, as two firms in the country have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the production of a crypto trading platform, after obtaining a license for it.

According to a recently published press release, the largest distribution company in Vietnam, the Linh Thanh Group, is going to develop the trading platform along with Switzerland-based blockchain firm KRONN Ventures AG.
The document notes that an official statement from the Linh Thanh Group has stated that working with KRONN Ventures will see both create “world-class cryptocurrency exchange,” as the latter is “known widely as a leader in blockchain technology in Switzerland.”
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guest · Mar 25, 2019

Central Banks See ‘No Value’ in Issuing Digital Currency: BIS Chief
March 25, 2019
https://www.coindesk.com/central-banks-see-no-value-in-issuing-digital-currency-bis-chief

The general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has again warned that caution is needed when considering central bank digital currencies.

In a speech at the Central Bank of Ireland on Friday, Agustin Carstens said that central banks today “are not seeing the value” of venturing into the unknown when it comes to issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC), as such a move could bring fundamental changes to both financial stability and the monetary system.
A central bank digital currency would also impact the monetary policy environment, he said, adding that it would “change the demand for base money and its composition in unpredictable ways.”
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guest · Mar 25, 2019

MetaMask Has Been Broadcasting Users' Ethereum Addresses to Visited Websites by Default
March 24, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...eum-addresses-to-visited-websites-by-default/

Popular Ethereum wallet MetaMask has been broadcasting users’ Ethereum wallets to the websites they visit, allowing third-parties to see their ETH addresses and potentially link them to their browsing activity.

According to a recently raised GitHub issue, MetaMask has a built-in “privacy mode” that could stop this from happening, but that needs to be manually activated by the user. If it isn’t enabled, it sends websites what are known as “message broadcasts.”
These have raised concerns, as “any advertisement, or tracker” can detect MetaMask users’ Ethereum addresses through them and potentially link the address to users’ browsing activity – compromising anonymity.
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guest · Mar 25, 2019

mood said: ↑

Bing Ads to disallow cryptocurrency advertising
May 14, 2018
https://advertise.bingads.microsoft...ng-ads-to-disallow-cryptocurrency-advertising
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Microsoft’s Bing blocked 5,000,000 cryptocurrency ads in 2018
That's a lot of crypto-fraudsters
March 25, 2019
https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2019/03/25/microsoft-bing-cryptocurrency-ads-blocked/

Microsoft’s Bing has boasted it successfully blocked more than 5 million cryptocurrency-related ads, after it imposed a strict marketing ban last year.
“We suspended nearly 200,000 accounts from the Bing Ads platform, twice the number in 2017. 900 million bad ads and 300,000 bad sites were also removed from our system,” wrote Bing.

Of the eye-watering 900 million dangerous ads removed, Bing noted over 5 million were taken down for containing cryptocurrency content.
Five million banned cryptocurrency-related ads is certainly a lot. But, it actually works out to be less than 1 percent of all advertisements Bing blocked in 2018.

“The high returns and volatility of cryptocurrencies invited a lot of interest from retail investors and speculators looking to make a quick return,” Bing explained. “There wasn’t much regulatory oversight, and the overall pseudo-anonymity built into currencies like bitcoin [sic] made cryptocurrency a prime target for fraudsters and scam artists to defraud end-users.”
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ronjor · Mar 26, 2019

Bitcoin exchange DragonEx ‘hacked for undisclosed amount’

Yessi Bello Perez Published March 26, 2019
Another day, another hack
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ronjor · Mar 26, 2019

New EU regulations put an end to buying Bitcoin anonymously

Matthew Beedham Published March 26, 2019
LocalBitcoins.com is no longer as anonymous as it once was
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ronjor · Mar 26, 2019

Google accidentally promoted a malicious Bitcoin wallet on YouTube

Yessi Bello Perez 26 Mar 2019
Google-owned YouTube inadvertently advertized an illegitimate version of the Bitcoin BTC wallet Electrum.
A Redditor unearthed the issue, noting how the malicious advert was disguised to resemble a real Electrum advertisement.
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guest · Mar 26, 2019

6 Most Common Blockchain & Crypto Misconceptions, According to ConsenSys
March 26, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...isconceptions-about-blockchain-crypto-report/

According to ConsenSys’ recent post, there are many inaccurate reports about cryptocurrency mining being bad for the environment.

The ConsenSys team also stated the blogger(s) who claim that PoW networks are not eco-friendly have “overlooked fundamental aspects of the issue at hand.” ConsenSys’ blog further notes it should be fairly easy to understand why the arguments against using PoW may be flawed. The team also recommended reading carefully through Robert Sharratt’s article, “The Reports of Bitcoin Environmental Damage are Garbage.”

Another common misconception about the blockchain and crypto space (from the perspective of the mainstream user) is that “many people still equate blockchain with cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency with Bitcoin,” ConsenSys’ blog notes.
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guest · Mar 27, 2019

Monero [XMR]’s privacy feature may lead to pressure on countries to address status of privacy coins
March 27, 2019
https://ambcrypto.com/moneros-xmr-p...countries-to-address-status-of-privacy-coins/

Notably, this fork carried out four main upgrades, dynamic block size algorithm update, change in Proof-of-Work [PoW] algorithm, addition of dummy encrypted payment ID, and “shrinking the size of amount encodings and using deterministic masks,” to simplify amount commits.

The report by Binance Research stated that one of the upgrades, the addition of dummy encrypted payment ID, “made it harder” to discover the origins and destination of a transaction.

“As several countries (e.g., France) and individual US states (e.g., Texas) are discussing whether or not privacy coins should be banned, this additional privacy feature may lead to higher pressure on countries to create legislature to directly address the status of privacy coins.”
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guest · Mar 27, 2019

ronjor said: ↑

Bitcoin exchange DragonEx ‘hacked for undisclosed amount’
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Cryptocurrency platforms DragonEx and CoinBene disclose hacks
DragonEx is believed to have lost at least $1 million, while CoinBene losses are estimated around $45 million
March 27, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/cryptocurrency-platforms-dragonex-and-coinbene-disclose-hacks/

DragonEx is believed to have lost over $1 million worth of cryptocurrency, while CoinBene's losses are estimated at over $45 million, according to industry observers.
It should be noted that none of the two cryptocurrency exchanges have put out exact figures of the sums they've lost, and none have responded to requests for comments from ZDNet.
The DragonEx hack
The first of the two to admit to a hack was DragonEx. In a message posted on its English Telegram channel, the exchange said it was attacked on Sunday, March 24, when hackers stole part of its funds.
DragonEx sad the hacker transfered funds to other exchanges, but they were able to recover some of the money, but not all.
THE COINBENE HACK
The second cryptocurrency to have annonced a hack this week is CoinBene, which admitted to being targeted by hackers earlier today in a tweet.
The platform said that all funds are "100% secure" and promised that if any users lost funds, they'll be compensate in full.
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ronjor · Mar 28, 2019

Bitcoin scammers swindled UK investors out of $19M last year

Matthew Beedham March 28, 2019
In some cases victims were hit by a double con. After being scammed for a first time, victims would be targeted by secondary scammers making false claims they could get back the victim’s lost funds for a fee.
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guest · Mar 28, 2019

Wuabit Service Means Users Can Send Crypto through WhatsApp
March 27, 2019
https://cryptocurrencynews.com/wuabit-whatsapp-crypto-service/

The Wuabit service will give users access to their tokens through WhatsApp. In essence, the wallet will appear linked to WhatsApp and is capable of all the regular wallet functions. This includes sending, receiving, and trading crypto assets.
The Wuabit team is planning on bringing the service to other messaging platforms Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Viber.

At present, the service supports Bitcoin (BTC). But Wuabit has said it may integrate Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ethereum (ETH) in the coming months. A public beta will launch next month.
Social Media and Crypto
This is not the first time a social media company or messaging service has thought to integrate with cryptocurrency.
According to a New York Times report posted last month, Facebook is working on its own digital currency to be integrated into its messaging services.
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guest · Mar 28, 2019

Dr. Craig Wright issues wallet cracking challenge in support of brain wallets
March 28, 2019
https://coingeek.com/dr-craig-wright-issues-wallet-cracking-challenge-in-support-of-brain-wallets/

For those unfamiliar with the term brain wallet, it is a concept that seeks to have cryptocurrency holders create a pseudo-random seed phrase in order to protect the assets stored in a wallet. A number of crypto wallets incorporate this type of security protection and it is, in general, effective.

However, a brain wallet is not meant to be a password and shouldn’t be viewed as one. Dr. Craig Wright explores brain wallets in a new post on Medium [...]
Wright explains, “If you are storing millions of dollars in a single key, then a simple 12-word brain wallet is a very bad idea. [...] The reality is that the cranks in the industry love to tell you that you must have perfect security for everything. Seeking such an end is completely wrong.

“They, like many in Core, will tell you never to use a brain wallet. The reality, though, is that nobody will crack a good phrase. What they should be teaching is how to create a good brain wallet. Done well, it is completely secure and you can ignore the cries of ‘it’s not perfect.’”
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ronjor · Mar 28, 2019

Hackers fix 20 security flaws in cryptocurrency-related platforms in 2 weeks

David Canellis 28 mar 2019
Monero, Augur, and Stellar paid hackers to fix their code
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guest · Mar 28, 2019

Ontario town will soon accept Bitcoin for property tax
Experiment launched amid controversy about the risks of digital currencies
March 28, 2019
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/innisfil-property-tax-uber-ontario-bitcoin-crypto-1.5075961

The Ontario town of Innisfil will soon begin accepting digital currencies as payment for its property taxes, starting with Bitcoin.

Its council voted late Tuesday in favour of the one-year cryptocurrency pilot project, in partnership with a Toronto company.
Starting in April, Innisfil residents will be able to pay taxes with Bitcoin through a digital wallet operated by Coinberry Pay, which will convert the cryptocurrency to Canadian funds and transfer the payment to the town.

The town's experiment is being launched amid controversy about the risks of using cryptocurrency which, unlike conventional currency, isn't backed by any government or central bank.
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ronjor · Mar 29, 2019

Mt. Gox’ Mark Karpeles to appeal data manipulation conviction

Story by David Canellis 29 Mar 2019
Mt. Gox‘s former chief Mark Karpelès has confirmed his intent to appeal last week’s court ruling, which found him guilty of manipulating the financial records of his embattled cryptocurrency exchange to conceal its massive losses.
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guest · Mar 29, 2019

“Facebook of Russia” Vkontakte To Issue its own Crypto
March 30, 2019
https://ethereumworldnews.com/facebook-of-russia-vkontakte-to-issue-its-own-crypto/

Following the success of Facebook, the Russian social network Vkontakte would also be considering adapting its platform to blockchain technologies to make it possible for users to send crypto.
VKontakte: If it Works for Them, It Will Work for Us
According to an article published by the Russian online news portal RNS, the social network would be considering launching a native crypto currency to facilitate commercial exchanges and payments between users.
RNS claims its team was able to get a filtered presentation, showing how the company expects to use crypto and integrate this tech with its VK Pay payment platform
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guest · Mar 30, 2019

Hackers Steal $19 Million From Bithumb Cryptocurrency Exchange
March 30, 2019
https://thehackernews.com/2019/03/bithumb-cryptocurrency-hacked.html

Hackers yesterday stole nearly $19 million worth of cryptocurrency from Bithumb, the South Korea-based popular cryptocurrency exchange admitted today.

According to Primitive Ventures' Dovey Wan, who first broke the information on social media, hackers managed to compromise a number of Bithumb's hot EOS and XRP wallets and transferred around 3 million EOS (~ $13 million) and 20 million XRP (~ $6 million) to his newly-created accounts.

Bithumb has been hacked multiple times in the past. Last time the popular cryptocurrency exchange was hacked in June 2018, when hackers stole $31 million, and in July 2017, when hackers stole $1 million worth of EOS from many wallets belonging to its users.

"And this is the second time Bithumb saw a MAJOR hack, last time it was hacked with a loss over $30m.. lol and after the first hack it was STILL able to get the fiat license from Korea and WTF??" Wan says on Twitter.
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guest · Apr 1, 2019

Japan's Biggest Railway Company Is Looking to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments
March 31, 2019
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/...is-looking-to-accept-cryptocurrency-payments/

Japan’s biggest railway and subway operator, the Japan Railways Group (JR Group), is reportedly looking to add cryptocurrency payment options for its users, in a move that could see millions of Japanese individuals use cryptos to pay for transportation.

The new system would see JR Group patrons to top up their Suica payment cards – prepaid e-money cards that allow them to pay for both goods and services in Japan – with cryptocurrencies. Data released by the company shows that, as of March of last year, 70 of these cards were issued.
Japan’s Growing Cryptocurrency Scene
Despite last year’s bear market, which saw the crypto ecosystem lose over 85% of its value, Japan’s cryptocurrency scene seemingly hasn’t stopped growing. The country has made bitcoin a legal payment method in April of 2017, and since then new retailers have started welcoming cryptos.
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guest · Apr 1, 2019

Privacy Service for XMR-Enabled Bitcoin Transfers Removes Support for US Residents
April 1, 2019
https://cointelegraph.com/news/priv...in-transfers-removes-support-for-us-residents

XMR.to — a service that allows users to increase the privacy of their Bitcoin (BTC) transactions by using Monero (XMR) as an intermediary currency — has announced it will not be serving United States-based clients for the time being.
The news was revealed in a post from a member of the site’s core team to a Reddit thread on March 30.

XMR.to allows users to make a Bitcoin payment to a specified address, but to maximize their own anonymity by first transferring an equivalent value in privacy coin Monero to XMR.to, which — after receiving the Monero — executes the Bitcoin payment on the user’s behalf.
Enforcing the newly-introduced jurisdictional restriction could pose a considerable challenge for XMR.to, given that its company policy currently tends towards protecting user confidentiality [...]
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