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Indian doctors have warned that the sale of unauthorized Covid-19 vaccines on the black market, where vendors ask for bitcoin as payment, is illegal. According to the doctors, the unsanctioned marketing of the vaccine to the elite is prevalent in the state of Karnataka. Some doctors say the Indian government must intervene by tracking down these vendors. Vaccine for VIPs As media reports from that country confirm, doctors “have been getting calls from VIP patients, wanting to know whether these Covid-19 vaccines offered by certain dealers are genuine and can be taken.” For instance, the president of the Indian Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes’ Association (Phana) has acknowledged learning about such vaccine sales. The Phana president, who is identified as “Dr. HM Prasanna” in one report, claims “he heard that certain vaccines are being administered to residents for bitcoin.” While Prasanna is condemning the unsanctioned sales, he does, however, ask potential buyers of the unsanctioned vaccines to “exercise caution (in such cases) and follow the government’s guidelines in this regard.” Citizens Must Wait for Government Approved Vaccine In the meantime, such reports of unverified Covid-19 vaccines being exchanged for bitcoin are coming as “the distribution of (any) such vaccines in the country is still considered illegal.” Instead of resorting to the illegal vaccines, Indian doctors insist “citizens must wait for the government to roll out the product through the Drug Controller General of India.” Meanwhile, another doctor, Giridhara Babu, an epidemiologist and member of the Technical Advisory Committee for Covid-19 management in the Karnataka state, says he has not personally come across such vaccines on the black market. However, Babu, who is urging the Indian government to clamp down on the illegal vaccine vendors, claims the sale and distribution of such Covid-19 vaccines worsen “the inequities since only those with money and power can gain access.” On the other hand, Babu explains that “those taking such vaccines might be under the impression that it’s an immunity booster, but they may end up taking a useless product.” Meanwhile, India is set to start its Covid-19 vaccination drive from January 16 and priority will be given to healthcare and frontline workers. What are your views on the sale of unsanctioned Covid-19 vaccines for BTC? Tell us your views in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. January 13, 2021 – T-Systems MMS, a subsidiary of the largest telecommunications provider in Europe, Deutsche Telekom, announces today a partnership with Flow blockchain developed by Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot. T-Systems’ flagship deployment on Flow will be the operation of an Execution Node. Validation Capital was involved in this partnership as strategic advisor. As part of the partnership, T-Systems MMS will run an Execution Node, significantly contributing to the Flow blockchain’s computational resources as a result. This is because Execution Nodes are responsible for both the processing of new blocks and their consequent storage. These tasks are by far the most computation-intensive, and as such can only be performed with reliable and trusted infrastructure, which T-Systems provides. Flow is a user-centric blockchain built for mainstream adoption, with an aim of bringing blockchain-enabled consumer applications to billions of people. Flow is the only layer one blockchain built by a team that both understands the importance of reducing complexity for ecosystem developers and possesses proven expertise in eliminating on-boarding friction for mainstream users. Trusted by leading companies like Ubisoft and Warner Music Group, Flow is set to introduce blockchain technology to global audiences through partnerships with mainstream brands such as Dr. Seuss, the UFC, and the NBA. The details of the partnership include: T-Systems MMS will provide reliable and secure infrastructure necessary for Flow to scale and respond to any current and future needs of both Flow’s developers and users. T-Systems MMS will operate one of the Flow network’s Execution Nodes, responsible for the execution and consequent storage of newly-created blocks, thereby ensuring the decentralized network’s ongoing operation. “At Dapper Labs, we believe that a seamless and efficient user experience is paramount to adoption. Our partnership with T-Systems is key to delivering on our ambitions to reach a global, general audience,” says Roham Gharegozlou, CEO at Dapper Labs. “True digital ownership, direct fanbase engagement and rich ecosystem composability, which the Flow blockchain brings to the table, not only allows for the creation of new business models but represents a fundamental shift in existing ones. Through our partnership with Flow we are expanding our portfolio of blockchain infrastructure and staking services. We are excited about the NFT space and will be working to support the vision of public blockchains as the basis for the open world and its numerous use-cases on Flow,” says Dr. Andreas Dittrich, Head of Blockchain Solutions Center of T-Systems MMS. T-Systems MMS’ foothold in Europe allows it to become a go-to service provider in the European market for blockchain-related implementations and pilot programs. With expertise in the areas of connectivity, digitalization, cloud & IT infrastructure, and digital security, the company positions itself as a disruptor in sectors still widely untouched by blockchain. T-Systems MMS’ Blockchain Solution Center is a team of experienced developers, architects and consultants in the blockchain field with an established position in the IT industry and a wide array of customers looking to stay on the edge of technological progress. If as a FLOW token holder you would like to stake to the professional Execution Node infrastructure of T-Systems, you can do so via delegating to the following node ID: 2b396b7fab0102f104a2af7e095b145cc14da28f863564802e158afc3e07e638 Note: Double-check the node ID before delegating! “Flow is the most important innovation to-date towards mainstream adoption of digital collectibles and has grown an unparalleled ecosystem of developers and content creators building the future of apps and gaming.” – Michael Horowitz, CEO of Validation Capital. About Dapper Labs Dapper Labs is the company behind CryptoKitties and the Flow blockchain as well as upcoming titles like NBA Top Shot. Founded in 2018, Dapper Labs uses blockchain technology to bring new forms of digital engagement to fans around the world. Blockchain-enabled applications can bring fans closer with the brands they love, give people a real stake in the communities they contribute to, and create new ways for consumers to become creators themselves. Publicly announced Dapper Labs partners include the NBA and NBPA, Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, and UFC. Notable investors in Dapper Labs include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Google Ventures, Samsung, and the founders of Dreamworks, Reddit, Coinbase, Zynga, and AngelList, among others. About T-Systems Multimedia Solutions T-Systems Multimedia Solutions facilitates the digital transformation of large corporations and medium-sized companies. With an annual 2019 turnover of €176 million, it enables its customers to develop new digital business models for Industrial IoT, Customer Experience, New Work and Digital Reliability. Leveraging its consulting and technical expertise with some 2100 employees at seven locations, the digital service provider also offers dynamic web and application management. As market leader it offers a certified test laboratory for the internet and multimedia industry, delivering the highest standards of software quality, accessibility and IT security. For further information: www.t-systems-mms.com About Validation Capital Validation Capital (“VCC”) is an infrastructure and investment firm for proof-of-stake & next-generation blockchain networks. VCC provides secure node infrastructure, investment capital, and advisory to industry leading networks including Chainlink, VeChain and Crypto.com, among others. VCC’s team brings crypto expertise from Stratx Consulting Inc., with a blend of Wall Street and engineering talent. VCC’s finance team has more than 25 years of capital markets and investing experience from firms including CIBC, BMO, and Moelis. The engineering team brings enterprise best practices in cybersecurity and network architecture from Deloitte. Company contact: Lisa Gräf T-Systems Multimedia Solutions Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit +49351 2820 5366 lisa.graef@t-systems.com Press contact: Nanna-Josephine Roloff & Julia della Peruta Oseon +49 040 – 22 81 700 13 / +49 069 – 348 69 09 12 tsmms@oseon.com This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

Bitfinex general counsel Stuart Hoegner has dismissed the notion that only 74% of the tether stablecoin in circulation is fully backed. Hoegner insists the stablecoin is fully backed by assets that include cash, cash equivalents as well as bitcoin. However, both Hoegner and the company’s CTO Paolo Ardoino, are pushing back against the narrative that Bitfinex is engaged in a conspiracy to pump the price of bitcoin. The Loan to Bitfinex In an interview with Peter McCormack, the Bitfinex general counsel claims the misconception that USDT is not fully backed stem from a sworn affidavit which he says has been taken out of context. The contents of the affidavit, which Hoegner submitted on April 30, 2020, as part of the “New York litigation with Attorney General”, became public knowledge when the USDT’s market capitalization was only $2.1 billion. According to that affidavit, about 74% of tether backing was in the form of “cash and cash equivalents on hand.” On the other hand, the remaining 26% was in the form of a $550 million loan to the company which it “is fully servicing.” The general counsel explains that since the stablecoin’s total market capitalization has gone up from $2.1 billion to the current $22 billion, the loan’s share of the USDT reserves shrunk to 2.5%. In the meantime, both Hoegner and Ardoino have confirmed that bitcoins are part of the reserves assets that Bitfinex uses to back the stablecoin. Nevertheless, both men still refuse to divulge the exact makeup of assets in reserves. However, Ardoino does reveal the only time Bitfinex acquired the bitcoins which now form part of tether’s reserves: The CTO says: The bitcoins in reserves are a good amount remaining from the past acquisition that we likely did in 2015/16….The bitcoins, which we bought for a good price in 2015/16, will probably be enough for perpetuity. The CTO also dismisses the idea that Bitfinex is actually issuing tethers just to buy bitcoins. He says this narrative does not make sense especially when the company can simply buy the BTC using the fiat money which it has. The Lack of an Independent Audit Meanwhile, when asked why the company is not hiring outside auditors to conduct a full audit, an evasive Hoegner says some steps have been taken in this direction as a show of “good faith.” Such steps include consulting reports produced by one accounting firm, and a law firm as well as a report from Bitfinex bankers. Nevertheless, the general counsel reveals Bitfinex is continuously “looking for ways to share information with the community, to be more open and to be transparent.” With respect to the court injunction, which has since been “substantially narrowed”, Hoegner confirms that this is set to expire on January 15. However, even after the injunction’s expiration, the two companies and the AG will continue engaging in “constructive talks.” Hoegner then closes by clarifying that the AG has not filed a lawsuit against Bitfinex and Tether and that the action against the two entities does not amount to a “criminal investigation.” Do you agree that Bitfinex is not issuing tethers to pump the price of BTC? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. View the full article

A U.S. listed Chinese sports lottery firm announced that it has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire bitcoin (BTC) mining machines. The deal involves the issuing of $14.4 million worth of 500.com Class A ordinary shares. Models Include S17, T17, M20s and S9 According to the announcement, 500.com Ltd reached an initial agreement to acquire the mining machines from the unnamed non-U.S. seller. The firm looks forward to issuing 11,882,860 Class A shares valued at $1.21 per share to cover the purchase. The full amount of the transaction will allow the company to acquire mining machines, including such models as the M20s from Microbt S17, T17, and S9 from the mining hardware manufacturing giant Bitmain. However, 500.com Ltd clarifies that the transaction is still subject to the sellers’ satisfaction when the transaction concludes. Per the Chinese firm, the transaction is expected to be fully completed before the end of the first quarter of 2021. 500.com Ltd aims to install the machines within four weeks. Shares Skyrocketed on the News Regarding the machines’ technical aspects, the sports lottery firm pointed out that its total hash power capacity is estimated to reach 918.5 PH/S. Also, they forecast to begin generating revenue from the mining activities “in the first half of 2021.” The company’s shares surged over 11% on the announcement, registering a new yearly high at $13,94. At the end of 2020, the U.S.-based firm Riot Blockchain’s market capitalization obtained a $1 billion valuation. The company is one of several enterprise companies that acquired massive quantities of bitcoin hardware miners in 2020. The microgrid software company Cleanspark’s announced on December 22, 2020, that they would purchase 1,000 bitcoin mining machines. The deployed S19 Antminers will increase Cleanspark’s mining capacity to 300PH/s. Since December 11, 2020, CLSK shares climbed 100% before the end of the year. What do you think about lotteries getting into mining? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Santa-Clara, CA – Taraxa’s newly released testnet was just put to use for a process auditing platform that minimizes operational friction in multi-party business processes. The Silicon Valley-based blockchain startup is building auditing solutions that infuse database-integrated systems with transparency and credibility by using data anchoring and cryptographic proofs to mathematically verify the origin and integrity of operational transactions. Cryptographically secured infrastructure and the flagship application Taraxa takes operational auditing to the next level with its cryptographically-secured audit log, finally solving the problem of capturing unstructured operational data with the highest level of integrity. The purpose-built infrastructure gives legacy enterprise platforms an unbeatable advantage of transparency and verifiability that automatically captures critical business ops data to prove the integrity of organizational planning, execution, and assessment. Taraxa offers a slew of innovative solutions for a wide range of industry verticals: Independent audit trails and chain of custody of all operations: automatic and tamper-proof audit trails guarantee complete process transparency and make process auditing a breeze via clear and systematic cryptographic proofs. Enterprise-ready DLT deployment: one-click deployment compatible with legacy systems and other dApps. The secure machine states: secures data at the source through an immutable data anchoring hardware endpoint to ensure the integrity of critical network infrastructure and revenue-generating assets. More enterprise-grade applications to come All applications built on top of Taraxa specifically address data visibility by implanting trust-verifying mechanisms to the backbone of operational transactions. Marinate is the first platform built by the team to make it easier to track multi-party processes and everyday agreements by anchoring operational transactions to the Taraxa public ledger. With the public testnet and the first app that uses Taraxa’s audit trails already live, CEO Steven Pu offers a look into the company’s future: ‘The technologies we’re building can help drive positive and measurable business efficiencies from day one without re-implementing existing digital enterprise infrastructure’. Media inquiries: info@taraxa.io Partnership inquiries: partnerships@taraxa.io About Taraxa: https://www.taraxa.io This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

A bitcoiner has shared his story of how he lost access to his 7,002 bitcoins, worth about $240 million at the current price. He has lost the piece of paper on which he wrote his password and now has two guesses left before his device seizes up and encrypts its contents forever. 7,002 Bitcoins Worth $240 Million at Stake Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has been unable to access his 7,002 bitcoins, which is worth almost $240 million at the current price, the New York Times reported Tuesday. He stored the private key for his bitcoins on a small, encrypted hard drive known as an Ironkey, and wrote the password to the device down on paper. However, he said he lost the piece of paper where he wrote down the password years ago. The device gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and encrypts its contents forever. He has used up eight of the 10 allotments without success. He was quoted as saying: I would just lay in bed and think about it. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again. Thomas explained that he was attracted to bitcoin partly because it was outside the control of a country or company. He was given the 7,002 bitcoins in 2011 while living in Switzerland by an early bitcoiner for making the famous animated video entitled “What is Bitcoin?” Being unable to access his bitcoins while its value soared, fall, and soared again has made Thomas rethink the idea of being his own bank and holding onto his own money, the publication conveyed. “This whole idea of being your own bank — let me put it this way, ‘Do you make your own shoes?’ The reason we have banks is that we don’t want to deal with all those things that banks do,” he opined. Nonetheless, the programmer said he now has access to enough bitcoin to make him richer than he knows what to do with. In addition, he joined cryptocurrency startup Ripple in 2012 and was rewarded XRP. Ripple is currently facing a lawsuit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over XRP. Thomas said that he has put his Ironkey in a safe place in case cryptographers are able to crack complex passwords in the future. Emphasizing that he is keeping the device far from him to avoid being obsessed over it, he concluded: I got to a point where I said to myself, ‘Let it be in the past, just for your own mental health.’ Are you worried about losing passwords to access your bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The mastermind of what the U.S. Department of Justice calls a scam of “epic proportions” has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. His crypto scheme collected over $147 million, duping 72,000 investors. He is also ordered to pay the U.S. Internal Revenue Service more than $1.8 million for tax evasion. Scam Involving Fake Cryptocurrency The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that a California man, Steve Chen, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for his “leading role” in a major crypto fraud case. Judge John Walter called Chen’s scheme a scam of “epic proportions.” The DOJ explained that the 63-year-old conducted “a massive investment scam where a multinational company issued a phony digital currency purportedly backed by billions of dollars’ worth of amber and other gemstones.” Chen pleaded guilty in June last year to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. Chen was the owner and CEO of U.S. Fine Investment Arts Inc. (USFIA) and six other companies. The DOJ detailed that he fraudulently promoted and solicited investments from July 2013 until September 2015. He convinced investors that USFIA was a successful multi-level marketing company that extracted amber and other gemstones from the mines it “owned” in the U.S., the Dominican Republic, Argentina, and Mexico. However, in reality, the mines did not exist. The DOJ added: He ultimately obtained approximately $147 million from 72,000 victims, in one of the largest pyramid schemes ever prosecuted in this district. Investors were duped into buying USFIA “packages” purportedly comprised amber and other gemstones, as well as USFIA “points.” They were told that these points could be converted to USFIA shares when the company had its IPO, which never happened. The investments range from $1,000 to $30,000 each. USFIA also “offered other bonuses – including cash, travel, luxury cars, homes in the Los Angeles area, and EB-5 visas for immigrant investors – to investors who recruited other people to purchase these ‘packages,'” the Justice department detailed. From September 2014, Chen and others substituted points for “Gem Coins,” which “had no circulation in any industry, were not accepted by any merchants, and had no economic value,” the DOJ continued, adding: They falsely promoted these ‘coins’ as a legitimate digital currency backed by the company’s gemstone holdings. Chen also falsely represented that these ‘coins’ already were in wide circulation in the jewelry and finance industries. In addition, Chen committed tax evasion when he reported that his gross income for 2014 was $138,015 when it was approximately $4,816,193. He, therefore, owed the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) $1,885,094 – before interest and penalties. The DOJ notice concludes: Judge Walter ordered Chen to pay restitution of $1,885,094 to the IRS on the tax evasion count. What do you think about this sentencing? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

The authorities in seven countries and Europol have jointly taken down Darkmarket, one of the largest darknet marketplaces. The action was taken after the marketplace’s alleged operator was arrested in Germany. Authorities Shut Down Darkmarket Europol announced Tuesday that darknet marketplace Darkmarket has been taken down. The announcement details: Darkmarket, the world’s largest illegal marketplace on the dark web, has been taken offline in an international operation involving Germany, Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, the United Kingdom (the National Crime Agency), and the USA (DEA, FBI, and IRS). According to Europol, Darkmarket had almost 500,000 users and more than 2,400 sellers. It had over 320,000 transactions, with “more than 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero transferred.” “At the current rate, this corresponds to a sum of more than €140 million [$171 million],” Europol wrote. “The vendors on the marketplace mainly traded all kinds of drugs and sold counterfeit money, stolen or counterfeit credit card details, anonymous SIM cards and malware.” Alleged Operator Arrested Darkmarket’s alleged operator was arrested over the weekend by the Central Criminal Investigation Department in the German city of Oldenburg, near the German-Danish border. Officers of the cybercrime unit of the Koblenz Public Prosecutor’s Office located and closed down the marketplace. They switched off the marketplace’s servers and seized “the criminal infrastructure – more than 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine supported by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).” Europol added: The stored data will give investigators new leads to further investigate moderators, sellers, and buyers. Europol recently shut down another major darknet marketplace. In collaboration with Finnish Customs (Tulli), the authorities shut down the Sipulimarket darknet marketplace in December and seized its bitcoin. What do you think about Darkmarket being shut down? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. IOST, an enterprise-grade, decentralized, and ultra-fast network oiled with the Proof-of Believability consensus algorithm, is integrating the HUSD stablecoin, according to an announcement on 13 Jan 2021. HUSD is a safe and secure dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Stable Universal Limited. Notably, IOST is the first batch of Public Blockchains to support HUSD. To celebrate this milestone, the two companies are giving away 35k HUSD exclusively for IOST users. The announcement highlights HUSD’s integration as a significant milestone for IOST to build its growing influence in the DeFi scene. About HUSD Stablecoin Issued by fintech company Stable Universal, HUSD is a safe and secure stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar. Combining the stability of the U.S. dollar with the efficiency of blockchain technology, HUSD offers IOST users access to a safe, secure, and convenient asset for remittance, commerce, payments, trading, and many other use cases. The integration of HUSD on the IOST blockchain is at its last stage of completion. Once completed, IOST users will be able to deposit U.S. dollars in their account and receive HUSD at a 1:1 ratio sent to their preferred crypto wallets. Terry Wang, CTO & Co-founder of IOST highlights: “Stablecoin is a key to unlock a plethora of opportunities in DeFi- IOST’s area of focus & growth in 2020 & the upcoming 2021. IOST’s innovative & developer-friendly technology which enables high scalability, fast transaction speed and zero transaction fees make it a perfect choice for both DeFi developers and users. We are thrilled to explore the unlimited opportunities that arisen from this collaboration with partnership and to continue making IOST a home for DeFi” Frank Zhang, CEO of Stable Universal, said: “It is a great start to the new year to announce that HUSD will be soon be supported in the IOST ecosystem, as greater cross-chain interoperability means better accessibility for users across a wide array of platforms and protocol, designed to meet their trading needs. We look forward to seeing more developers and communities as they continue to explore the use cases for stablecoin and blockchain technology at large.” HUSD stablecoin will play significant roles in IOST’s DeFi use cases as a payment token, a store of value, and a bridge between fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies. HUSD will also help minimize the price volatility often associated with cryptocurrency trading, allow individual users and institutional investors to easily build and transact on IOST blockchain, as well as take part in new liquidity pools for future decentralized exchanges on IOST. IOST- The Next Home for DeFi For DeFi dApps to satisfactorily compete with traditional applications, the underlying network must be fast, meshing perfectly with the objective of the dApp launchers. In the mid of the competition, IOST — an enterprise-grade, decentralized, and ultra-fast network oiled with the Proof-of Believability consensus algorithm is building a robust portfolio by offering developer-friendly features and environments. The IOST platform emerged as a response to the scalability problem which it aims to tackle once and for all. To that effect, it implements an array of technologies, including the Proof-of-Believability algorithm, and high-performance virtual machine technology, all of which are supposed to offer higher TPS rates of up to 8000 transactions per second. As early as the beginning of 2019, IOST has started to lay out a holistic DeFi ecosystem and continued to make inroads in the budding DeFi space with multiple strategic partnerships and emerging on-chain projects from stable coins, decentralized exchanges, cross-chain transactions, lending, financial derivatives, forecasts, and more. IOST offers developer-friendly features that improve product development efficiency. No congestion and no high gas fees as seen in Ethereum, the reason many developers choose to launch DeFi projects on IOST. A zero transaction fee also guarantees users the convenience and accessibility of using DeFi applications on the IOST chain. IOST has also embarked on multiple partnerships and recently launched a $1 million DeFi fund for the development of the DeFi ecosystem. To learn more about IOST, visit the website and Medium page for more information on the blockchain project. About HUSD HUSD is issued by Stable Universal and pegged 1:1 to the U.S. Dollar. Each HUSD issued is backed by a corresponding U.S. dollar held in a U.S. trust company. An independent U.S audit firm conducts monthly attestations of the HUSD Token, and the attestation report is available for public viewing on stcoins.com. Stable Universal is dedicated to making HUSD stable, secure, and safe for our customers. About IOST Supported by Sequoia, Matrix, ZhenFund, and other major investors, IOST is an enterprise-level blockchain platform developed for online service providers. The IOST project team is currently mainly composed of R&D personnel focusing on blockchain distributed technology. The team is formed by blockchain industry experts who have graduated from world top universities such as Princeton, Stanford, MIT, Tsinghua University, and Beijing University and have more than three years of blockchain-related research experience. With a two-year-old mainnet, IOST has swiftly risen to become a world-leading public chain renowned for its numerous government collaborations and enterprise partnerships around the world. IOST is one of the Big Four public chains with a rich user base and real applicability alongside Ethereum, EOS, and TRON. 500,000 community members, over 20 countries worldwide, over 400 nodes, top staking economy, and growing. If you would like to hang out with the IOST community on chat, social media, or to discuss product development, there is something for everyone: International English Telegram Group: https://t.me/officialios IOST Announcement Channel: https://t.me/iost_announcements IOST Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/IOST_Official IOST CTO Terry Wang Twitter: https://twitter.com/terrence_iost IOST CEO Jimmy Zhong Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimmyzhong_iost Slack Developer Community: https://invite.iost.io Uptrennd: https://www.uptrennd.com/iost Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/IOSTofficial/ This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

A class-action lawsuit has reportedly been filed against a cryptocurrency scam that has duped many Indian investors. The scam, promoted in three Indian languages, lures investors by promising up to 900% return on investments. The Delhi court has directed a notice to be placed in major newspapers, seeking victims of this scam to come forward. Class-Action Lawsuit to Stop a Crypto Scam in India A representative lawsuit has reportedly been filed in order to stop a cryptocurrency scam from continuing to dupe Indian investors. The Delhi court last week directed a notice to be published in leading Indian newspapers to invite victims of the scam to come forward. Advocate Nipun Saxena filed the suit on behalf of various Indian citizens who said they had been duped by a company called IQ Option, local media reported. This platform claims to allow users to trade stocks, forex, options, and cryptocurrencies. Twenty-six cryptos are listed on its website, including bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), stellar (XLM), and bitcoin cash (BCH). “The financial products offered by the company include contracts for difference (‘CFDs’) and other complex financial products,” the company detailed. According to its website, IQ Option has over 48 million registered users from 189 different countries, including India. The site is owned and managed by the Cyprus-registered IQ Option Europe Ltd. and St. Vincent and the Grenadines-registered IQ Option Ltd. Advocate Saxena was quoted by The Leaflet publication as saying: The platform uses three Indian languages, Hindi, English, and Bangla to target Indian customers. The scheme lures investors with mouth-watering promises, such as a return of up to 900%. Only a small $1 initial investment is required to participate in the scheme. The lawyer explained that the platform has hidden fees, including a 2% fee charged for every withdrawal. However, after paying the fee, customers said they were still unable to withdraw any money as the website would ask them for their credentials and then display a series of error messages. The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction against the scammers and to block all websites and mobile apps used for this scam in India. The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent the defendants from operating a future business in India. Advocate Saxena believes that there are thousands of other victims scattered across India who have been duped by this scam. Many people outside of India have also reported IQ Option as a scam. What do you think about this crypto scam? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

New Zealand’s financial regulator issued a warning alert to local cryptocurrency investors and traders amid the recent bitcoin’s price action. The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) asks people to remain cautious because cryptos are “high risk and highly volatile assets.” FMA Warns About Unregulated Overseas Crypto Exchanges According to an official statement published in the NZ Herald, New Zealand’s financial watchdog is concerned about the latest “rollercoaster move” seen in the bitcoin (BTC) price. “Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in New Zealand and are often exploited by scammers and hackers,” said an FMA spokesman. But the regulator’s warning is not the only one seen over the last few days. In fact, the FMA quoted its U.K. counterpart, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), as saying: The FMA shares the FCA’s concerns that some crypto exchanges are promising high returns and customers should be prepared to lose all of their money. The advisory includes a warning on unregulated overseas crypto exchanges. Per the FMA spokesman, exchanges with no connection to New Zealand make it “hard to find out who is offering, exchanging, buying or selling” cryptos. The Cryptopia’s Saga The watchdog issued a reminder when dealing with a crypto exchange, stating: You should also check if the exchange holds your New Zealand dollars in a trust account. The FMA said that locals need to make sure if the exchange is registered in the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR). That’s a requirement to access a “dispute resolution scheme,” it added. NZ Herald’s article also references Cryptopia’s heist — a Christchurch-based crypto exchange that suffered a major hack in January 2019. That year, the Cryptopia team estimated they lost almost 9.5% of their total holdings, and the article noted that “crypto deposits are not guaranteed.” What do you think about the FMA’s crypto warning? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

xSigma is an upcoming stablecoin DEX protocol developed by the first DeFi project backed by a NASDAQ-listed company. In order to attract liquidity providers to supply their stablecoins to the decentralized exchange, the protocol will feature a lucrative rewards system for liquidity mining. The project recently finalized its smart contract and today released its whitepaper to the public. Provide Stablecoins, Earn SIG Tokens DeFi investors have earned some great yields recently, but also fallen victim to scammers, hackers and just awful programmers. For this reason it is good to find a project you can trust with your digital assets before you make the leap. And you can’t find a project more focused on minimizing these risks for liquidity providers than xSigma DeFi. This is a DEX protocol developed by a team full of top-notch software developers and a lab backed by a NASDAQ-listed company. One of the main goals of xSigma is to make the process as safe, user-friendly and profitable for liquidity providers as possible. All that liquidity providers have to do is to supply stablecoins, which they can withdraw back at any time, and the system will take care of the rest and earn them SIG tokens while they seat back. One might think of it as an “Uber for market-makers,” where instead of every investor working for himself, the technology aggregates the best returns. Recently xSigma also introduced an enhanced rewards system for early adopters where liquidity providers can expect to earn extra lucrative incentives for the first couple of weeks at the protocol’s launch. Up to twice the rewards for the first week. The developers also work to keep the rewards coming, using a scalable system to incentivize ongoing stablecoin farming. All liquidity providers additionally benefit from better exchange fees on the decentralized exchange. xSigma Whitepaper Released Today As mentioned above, xSigma is the first DeFi project backed by a NASDAQ-listed company. The lab is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ZK International Group Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq: ZKIN), a major China-based company that is focused on supplying advanced steel piping. The impressive xSigma team also includes world-class developers with previous experience working for Google, Facebook, Ripple Labs, 1inch and other technology companies. Each one of these factors would make it stand out from the crowd of DeFi projects by its own right, but having both an incredible backing and an impressive team make xSigma truly remarkable. The SIG token powering the system also has great fundamental factors supporting its value. The supply of tokens will be tightly controlled, with most of it going to liquidity providers, and SIG will be burned with exchange fees. This will both reduce the supply and, at the same time, increase the demand as more users will need to get SIG to use the platform. Holding SIG will also be needed to vote in the xSigma DAO, which will control future token issuance, thus putting the power of limiting supply mostly in the hands of liquidity providers. Additionally, the xSigma is being marketed very professionally and transparently in contrast to most of the DeFi projects out there which is use to attract more prudent investors. The xSigma team is hard at work developing the protocol and new developments are happening at a constant pace. December 29, 2020 the team announced the completion of the smart contract which was sent to extensive technology software audits to ensure the safety of funds and integrity of the system. And today, January 12, 2021, the xSigma whitepaper was released. The 17-pages document provides a straightforward introduction to the protocol and what makes xSigma superior to existing DeFi protocols. To keep up to date to future developments with xSigma, its new DeFi protocol and the lucrative rewards system for liquidity providers visit the lab’s website at xSigma.com anf the project at xsigma.fi. For more join the community on Discord, Twitter and Telegram. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Telegram, a popular messaging app within the cryptocurrency space, surpassed 500 million monthly active users during the first week of January, according to Telegram chief executive officer Pavel Durov. In the last 72 hours, said Durov, the app has seen a massive surge in new users, with an additional 25 million people signing up to use the platform. These new users are coming from all around the world, with the majority – 38% – drawn from Asia. Some 27% are coming from Europe, 21% from Latin America, and 8% from the Middle East and North Africa (Mena region). Around 200 million people used Telegram in 2018, meaning user growth has exceeded 150% over two years. Telegram may have benefited from changes to the privacy policy at rival Whatsapp. Recent updates to Whatsapp’s privacy policy require that users share their personal information with parent firm Facebook or stop using the service altogether. These changes are believed to have prompted users uncomfortable with sharing more of their personal data with Facebook to leave Whatsapp, and join privacy-centric competitors such as Telegram or Signal. Unlike other competing messaging apps, Telegram does not share personal data and offers encrypted chats. Posting on his personal Telegram channel on Jan. 12, Durov said: People no longer want to exchange their privacy for free services. They no longer want to be held hostage by tech monopolies that seem to think they can get away with anything as long as their apps have a critical mass of users. The Telegram CEO added that “with half a billion active users and accelerating growth, Telegram has become the largest refuge for those seeking a communication platform committed to privacy and security.” In 2020, Telegram reported new user sign-ups of 1.5 million each day, a far cry from the current influx of people joining the platform. “We’ve had surges of downloads before, throughout our 7-year history of protecting user privacy. But this time is different,” noted Durov. Until now, all services on Telegram have remained free. However, Durov announced in December that some services may now be monetized. He said additional functions will appear for “business teams and users with advanced needs” and those features will be paid because they are “resource-intensive”. Ordinary users will continue to use Telegram for free, he emphasized. Telegram attempted to launch its own cryptocurrency called Gram, through the TON blockchain platform, but was blocked by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That left Pavel Durov, who had raised $1.7 billion from select investors for the project, saddled with a debt of $1.2 billion and $18.5 million in penalties. Now some investors in TON are preparing a lawsuit against Durov to try and force the businessman “to sell part of Telegram or the entire company and pay off the investors, because he spent money on Telegram,” according to a Forbes report. Durov allegedly spent $500 million of the TON money to upgrade Telegram, something investors claim was not part of the original deal. What do you think about the influx of new users at Telegram? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Billionaire Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban sees cryptocurrency “exactly” like the dot-com bubble. He says bitcoin and a few other cryptocurrencies are analogous to those dot-com stocks, like Amazon and Ebay, that survived the bubble burst and thrived. Mark Cuban Likens Crypto to Dot-Com Bubble Shark Tank star Mark Cuban compared what he feels is a bubble in bitcoin to the dot-com bubble on Monday after the price of the cryptocurrency took a nosedive. The owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Dallas Mavericks tweeted: Watching the cryptos trade, it’s exactly like the internet stock bubble. Exactly. I think BTC, ETH, a few others will be analogous to those that were built during the dot-com era, survived the bubble bursting and thrived, like AMZN, Ebay, and Priceline. Many won’t. “Along the way, many fortunes will be made and lost and we find out who has the stomach to hodl and who doesn’t. My advice? Learn how to hedge,” he elaborated. At the time of writing, his tweet has garnered 895 comments. It has also been retweeted over 1.7K times and liked more than 10.8K times. Several people on Twitter view Cuban’s comment as bullish for BTC and ETH. Among the commenters was Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, who argued that cryptocurrencies are not like stocks. “Wrong. Cryptos like BTC and ETH are networks, they are definitely not stocks or shares of a company. They are like owning a piece of the early Internet. Comparing them to stocks is an apples to oranges comparison,” he explained to Cuban. After discussing bitcoin as a store of value, the Shark Tank star reiterated his stance: I said BTC is like gold, it’s a store of value with no other utility. At least I can eat bananas. Gold bug Peter Schiff chimed in, telling Cuban: “Mark, you can’t store what you don’t have. Gold is a store of value as you are storing gold for future use as a metal. Jewelers will need gold, computer chip manufactures will need gold, dentists, etc. But no one actually needs bitcoin now, so no one will need it in the future.” In a follow-up tweet, Cuban wrote: As during the dot-com bubble, ‘the experts’ try to justify whatever the pricing of the day is. Crypto, much like gold, is a supply and demand driven. All the narratives about debasement, fiat, etc are just sales pitches. The biggest sales pitch is scarcity vs demand. That’s it. The Gemini co-founder disagreed. “The narratives around debasement of fiat are facts. Have you looked at the Fed’s balance sheet lately? What’s the matter with supply and demand? The value of land, a Picasso, or the Dallas Mavericks franchise are determined by supply and demand too,” he told Cuban. Do you agree with Mark Cuban about bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

This week, news.Bitcoin.com chatted with Kim Dotcom, the founder of the now-defunct file hosting service Megaupload and the creator of the content monetization application called K.im. The Internet entrepreneur Dotcom is a big believer when it comes to the crypto economy and during the conversation, we discussed subjects like bitcoin cash, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how cryptocurrencies will forward financial freedom. Kim Dotcom is a well known Internet entrepreneur and political activist that believes the crypto economy will continue to swell in value. Dotcom is well known for being the former CEO of the now-defunct file hosting platform Megaupload. The site was taken down by the U.S. government in 2012, but before the takedown Megaupload served 180,000,000 registered members, and saw 50,000,000 visits per day. Currently, Dotcom is working on a content monetization application called K.im which will meld the benefits of cryptocurrency solutions and file hosting. News.Bitcoin.com reported on the application in the summer of 2017, and the K.im platform is expected to launch in Q4 of 2021. Moreover, Dotcom has revealed that the next-generation content monetization app will see bitcoin cash (BCH) integration. During our phone conversation, Dotcom spoke about the recent demand for digital assets, why BCH has a lot of upside potential, the recent Big Tech censorship, and how decentralized platforms will invigorate our future. Bitcoin.com (BC): While the global economy has been extremely gloomy, cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have seen significant demand. Do you think cryptocurrencies will continue to shine in 2021? Kim Dotcom: What we’ve seen with the global economy because of the pandemic, in my mind is really just the beginning of greater global distress of the economy and currencies. Simply because governments are printing money to finance debt. In the U.S. alone in 2020, over 30% of all the U.S. dollars in existence have been created during the year. It’s just not sustainable, you cannot keep printing money to pay what is required. I think there is a significant devaluation of the U.S. dollar going on and that is driving the demand for cryptocurrencies. Digital currencies are now seen to be more stable than fiat currencies. If that trend continues, which I think it will, it’s going to accelerate the devaluation of fiat currencies. Therefore causing significant disturbances in the markets as well. BC: Recently you said that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has great “upside potential” and is currently “undervalued.” Can you tell our readers why you think this is the case? Kim Dotcom: There are a couple of factors. One factor is that bitcoin cash (BCH) already does around 10% of the transaction volume that bitcoin (BTC) does. But BCH is only valued at 1% of the current valuation of BTC. So that’s a little bit of a discrepancy there. It is a very simple way to understand why it is undervalued. Another reason is that bitcoin cash, unlike bitcoin, is electronic cash where bitcoin wants to be electronic gold. Bitcoin is not really what you use to pay for things online. If you go and buy an apple and transaction fees cost more than the fruit, that’s not a viable electronic cash solution. Now when you look at the transaction volume potential for bitcoin cash, it is significantly higher than that of bitcoin because of the parameters of BCH. It has very low fees, currently, on txstreet.com it says that the average media fee for bitcoin cash is $0.001 per transaction. You don’t have that with BTC, so bitcoin cash is likely to take a more significant share of daily, real-life transactional volume. That’s where the upside potential lies and that’s why I think BCH is undervalued. Kim Dotcom has always been a supporter of cryptocurrencies, and more recently he tweeted: “Bitcoin > great for asset storage, Bitcoin Cash > great for payments. Bitcoin Cash at $310 today. I expect $3,000+ next year,” the internet entrepreneur added at the time. Dotcom also said: “Why? More and more vendors accept crypto. Vendors want low fees and fast transactions. I’m bullish on [bitcoin cash].”BC: You also said the other day that you plan to make bitcoin cash the “leading electronic cash solution in the world” and said you plan to help “accelerate the use of BCH.” How do you plan to do that? Kim Dotcom: So global credit card transactions are about 1.01 billion a day, I think that bitcoin cash in the next ten years will be able to compete with that. More and more vendors are accepting bitcoin cash at their point-of-sale and we are going to accelerate that with partnerships. Getting big retail chains to accept bitcoin cash like grocery markets and really anything that does big volumes of transactions. Then of course, online transactions as well because nothing works better and smoother than bitcoin cash. It’s already a proven system with over 100,000 vendors that have implemented BCH, so you can see that there is a demand for a solution that is cheaper and better than traditional credit cards. BC: Can you tell our readers about the progress of the application K.im you have been working on? Kim Dotcom: It’s going well and we’ve been working on it for a number of years. We’re basically turning files into shops. For example, if you are a music artist and you created an mp3 file, you can embed that into a K.im file shop and then the file becomes the shop. You can unlock the content inside the file with a crypto payment, and that’s a new way for people to basically transact. They can also have a section in the file shop for commissions, so they can have a sales force all over the Internet. Anyone who wants to sell their content can get whatever share the artist or creator wants to have, so you can basically turn the entire Internet into a massive sales force. We expect K.im to have several hundred million users within five years of launching and a lot of that transaction volume will sit with bitcoin cash. Simply because it is the cheapest, fastest way to transact right now with crypto. BC: How do you think the world’s governments will react to the swelling crypto economy and permissionless innovations? Kim Dotcom: I think cryptocurrencies are going to be a target for governments, because crypto is in reality competing with the money-printing schemes. The governments want to continue to print money to pay their bills. To pay for its military, to pay for whatever the government needs. As long as crypto continues to grow, the ability of the government to do that and run these old schemes is undermined more and more. I think we will see governments creating difficulties for cryptocurrencies and I expect that. BC: Just recently, Big Tech censored the sitting U.S. President and a number of other voices and even applications like Parler. Why do you think this is happening? Kim Dotcom: You can see that Big Tech is getting more and more engaged in politics. One has to wonder what these companies want to get out of this. They are not doing this out of their good heart, they are doing this for a purpose and one has to wonder what that purpose is. BC: With governments encroaching on freedoms worldwide, do you think cryptocurrency networks will help protect financial freedoms? Kim Dotcom: Absolutely, cryptocurrencies are the game-changer. They will definitely unlock more freedoms for people around the world. It is just one of many components. What the Big Tech companies did has very little to do with crypto because they run the infrastructure we are all using. They can now basically control what we see, what we hear, and that is frightening. Blockchain is just as interesting as the Internet was and the opportunities are endless. I think that it is important that we have more decentralized, non-corporate owned networks to communicate. We don’t really want a single entity to be able to change the way we communicate. It should be a network for the people, by the people, open source, decentralized, and I think that is the future. I think the tech giants are making a big mistake in underestimating the power of open source and the willingness of people to switch to something else. BC: When do you think the masses will catch on to cryptocurrency solutions? Kim Dotcom: We will see a steady rise of people adopting cryptocurrencies. It is only roughly 3% of Internet users that have had any contact with crypto. The upside potential is enormous. The more people learn about the benefits of cryptocurrencies, the easier it becomes to use and the safer it becomes to use. With those improvements, more people will engage and that is part of my mission. We need to do a good job of marketing crypto better. The crypto community also has to come together and work together toward that effort because the sooner we have critical mass, the better for everyone involved in the crypto space. I see a lot of infighting, I see a lot of tribal negative arguments and they are counter-productive. We should all just work together to make sure that users feel safe coming into this space. So the first thing they see is not all these arguments and bickering about what is the best cryptocurrency. BC: Do you think applications like K.im will help fuel the crypto economy and peer-to-peer electronic cash solutions? Kim Dotcom: Yes big time. K.im is going to have hundreds of millions of users and they are going to fuel the crypto economy no doubt. It’s going to be a part of making mass adoption happen and there will be some killer apps like K.im, that will do the same and combined, we’re going to drive more and more people toward accepting cryptocurrencies. What do you think about our conversation with Kim Dotcom? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

As bitcoin and a number of digital assets saw deep losses on Monday, a few crypto-asset exchanges had difficulties. Traders have been complaining about issues with exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and other trading platforms during the volatile price swings. Bitcoin (BTC) and many other cryptocurrencies have suffered a dip in value during the course of the day on Monday. While all the action happened, members of the crypto community and traders started complaining about exchange issues. “Coinbase couldn’t really couldn’t be performing any worse during these high volatility situations,” The Block analyst Larry Cermak tweeted on Monday morning (EST). Digital currency exchanges also had issues keeping up with demand and traffic this past Sunday (Jan. 10) and on Friday (Jan. 8) as well. This is crazy! Exchanges are having issues trying to cope up with #Bitcoin and other cryptos demands. I guess some are not ready with this overwhelming traffic of demand and supply in the #crypto world. 🚀📈📉 — 𝒜𝓃𝒿 𝒟𝒞🥀 (@twitgel) January 8, 2021 In another instance on Monday, the analyst Willy Woo tweeted about the San Francisco exchange Coinbase and stated that “buys on Coinbase are not completing. In the midst of the bitcoin (BTC) price drop on Monday at around 11:37 a.m. (EST), Woo added: Coinbase is $350 lower than other exchanges right now, it’s throwing off derivative indexes and likely impacting trade algos. At the time of publication, Coinbase doesn’t seem to be suffering from any issues today, according to the company’s status page. However, during the last two days, the San Francisco trading platform had an issue with “delayed transfers,” and the day prior it suffered from “delayed transfers and elevated error rate.” ATH system traffic again. Systems holding up so far, not perfect, slightly higher latency in some regions. https://t.co/Jo4UIPQaL8 — CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) January 11, 2021 The Twitter account representing Coinbase support also tweeted about the incident on Monday. “We’re investigating an issue impacting transactions on Coinbase.com and the mobile apps,” the company wrote. “The record of a recently initiated transaction may be delayed in showing up in your Coinbase account. There may also be some issues with some buys completing on the platform. Please do not re-submit your transaction – it will result in duplicate activity.” An hour later, Coinbase said that a fix was released and the issue was resolved. Coinbase was not the only exchange to have issues during Monday’s trading sessions. Cryptocurrency traders also complained about Kraken going offline for a temporary amount of time as well. As far as Woo’s opinion goes, when he said that the price discrepancies would throw off trading algorithms, a few crypto proponents said that the industry would do better with oracle-based price feeds and that exchanges like Coinbase should consider adding protocols like Chainlink. What do you think about exchanges having issues during volatile price swings? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

Bitcoin futures exchange Bakkt is going public via a merger with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) created for taking startup firms public. Both companies have now confirmed the transaction, and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under a new name – Bakkt Holdings Inc., – sometime in the second quarter of 2021. Rumours about the deal have swelled since early January. After the merger, Bakkt is expected to have an enterprise value of $2.1 billion, the company announced on Jan. 11. Bakkt was founded by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owners of the NYSE, in 2018 as an institutional crypto trading platform. But the exchange has faced stiff competition from market leaders such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). According to the announcement, the exchange will also raise an additional $582 million through a private placement, leveraging existing cash at VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings and contributions from ICE. The money is expected to bankroll Bakkt’s pivot to developing consumer applications for digital assets. Bakkt is expanding its business model, with a new app that allows users to manage crypto assets, including bitcoin (BTC), along with reward and loyalty points, intended for launch in March. Bakkt said that more than 400,000 customers have pre-registered for the app. The exchange, which supports over 30 loyalty program sponsors and 200 gift card merchants, is targeting 30 million users over the next five years. Starbucks has already integrated Bakkt Cash as a payment method for its clients. In its statement, Bakkt detailed that it aims to “enable incremental consumer spending, reduce traditional payment costs and bolster loyalty programs, adding value for all key stakeholders within the payments and digital assets ecosystem.” Bakkt’s announcement comes on the heels of U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase’s filing of a draft registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO). Through the SPAC, the so-called blank-check firms that allow other companies to go public through them, Bakkt has avoided the often lengthy process associated with IPOs – roadshows, issuing of prospectus, selling shares to investors etc. What do you think about Bakkt going public? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Stacks 2.0 is set to revolutionize the internet itself by empowering a decentralized and user-owned ecosystem built on top of the most secure blockchain in the world. This will be achieved by bringing apps and smart contracts anchored to bitcoin. The innovation will also create a brand new way for users to earn BTC, without the need to buy mining infrastructure or trust buggy DeFi protocols. Smart Contracts, Decentralized Apps and Staking on BTC When the internet was still young, visionaries described how it could bring about a future of endless possibilities, free exploration, uncensored communication and unconstrained creation. Instead, what is left today is constant surveillance and a handful of giant corporations extracting all the profits they can from selling your private data. Luckily, there is big change on the horizon. Bitcoin has the potential to free humanity from the shackles of centralized banking systems and in many places, corruption. By virtue of its decentralized nature, the elimination of the need for a trusted 3rd party, and by being a provable and reliable store of value, it is already revolutionizing money. Now it can do the same for the internet. Stacks 2.0 will reinvent the internet by enabling a whole new ecosystem of services and applications where the users own their personal data and everything is secured by bitcoin. In straightforward technological terms, Stacks 2.0 is a layer-1 blockchain that uses the BTC blockchain as a base-layer. Proof-of-Transfer allows for consensus between two blockchains, Bitcoin and Stacks, creating a native connection that allows for innovation on Bitcoin without ever modifying it. Along with Stacks 2.0 also comes a new programming language called Clarity which gives developers a safe way to build complex smart contracts where the code itself clearly shows what the program will do when run (hence the name). Stacks 2.0 Creates a Brand New Way to Earn BTC Beyond these important technological innovations, Stacks 2.0 will allow users to earn BTC in a brand new way that is currently missing from the scene. For the first time ever you can lock up one asset (STX) and earn rewards from the protocol in a reserve currency (BTC). This is called ‘Stacking’ and is a key aspect of the aforementioned ‘Proof-of-Transfer consensus mechanism. Stackers support consensus on the blockchain by locking or delegating their STX and are rewarded each cycle with BTC payouts. Currently, DeFi users are forced to stake all kinds of tokens and usually earn the same token in kind, which they then usually convert to BTC for safe keeping. Stacks 2.0 will enable STX holders to directly earn the most valuable and sought after cryptocurrency in the world, without the extra hassle. Additionally, there is no need to trust any shady projects with buggy code that the current DeFi landscape is sadly full of. STX were initially distributed to the public through the first-ever SEC-qualified token offering in U.S. history and the project recently released a legal memo outlining how STX can exit securities status and become tradable on US exchanges. In fact, OKCoin has committed to listing STX in the US upon the Stacks 2.0 launch. Stacks 2.0 is based on the success of Blockstack that raised over $75 million from equity investments and token offerings for the Stacks 1.0 ecosystem which currently includes over 400 apps. The new mainnet launch is expected on January 14, 2021. To learn more about the upcoming Stacks 2.0 launch visit the project’s website and make sure to register to secure your spot for the event. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. View the full article

Her Majesty’s Treasury in the U.K. issued a document that details a series of proposals addressing the crypto community. With the consultation, the Treasury is initiating a “regulatory approach to cryptoassets and stablecoins” for 2021 following the Brexit turmoil. Special Focus on Stablecoin Regulation According to the official announcement, the consultation mainly targets stablecoins to gather investments and wholesale uses. The HM Treasury expects to collect insights from the “industry and stakeholders” in the crypto sphere until March 21, 2021. In 2018, the British government launched a cross-authority taskforce to assess the impact of a “rapidly developing cryptoasset market” in the economy. With such motivation, the HM Treasury wants to “ensure its regulatory framework is equipped to harness the benefits of new technologies, supporting innovation and competition, while mitigating risks to consumers and stability.” The Treasury explains in the document why they put a special focus on stablecoins after the taskforce’s launching: Two years on, the landscape is changing rapidly. So-called stablecoins could pave the way for faster, cheaper payments, making it easier for people to pay for things or store their money. There is also increasing evidence that DLT could have significant benefits for capital markets, potentially fundamentally changing the way they operate. The Government Keeps Monitoring the Crypto Market to Set a ‘Proper’ Regulatory Approach Per the document, signed by John Glen, Economic Secretary to the U.K. Treasury, this approach marks the “first stage in our consultative process” with the crypto industry. They also want to spot “where the most serious risk lie,” stressing the importance of a risk-led approach to regulation. Secretary Glen commented in the document: The government will continue to actively monitor new and emerging risks as this market continues to mature. We will stand ready to take further regulatory action to ensure the market is working for the people and businesses who operate in it. On January 11, 2021, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned investors about high-risk crypto investments and the surge of related scams in the industry. What do you think about the U.K. government’s document addressing the crypto industry? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

JP Morgan’s analysts say that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) is likely negative for bitcoin in the near term. There is optimism around the prospect of the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF under new leadership, the analysts say. SEC Approving Bitcoin ETF Could Be Negative JP Morgan published a report on Friday that discusses the impact of an SEC-approved bitcoin ETF on the bitcoin market. “Optimism around the prospect of the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF in the US this year has risen in anticipation of SEC leadership changes,” the analysts wrote, stating: The approval of a bitcoin ETF in the US this year would likely be negative for bitcoin in the near term. The analysts, including strategist Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, proceeded to explain why they are forecasting a negative outlook. “The reason is a potential decline in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) premium to NAV [net asset value] from the introduction of bitcoin ETF in the US, which would unwind a big portion of GBTC investments currently placed for monetizing this premium.” They elaborated that “Some institutional investors likely subscribed to GBTC (at NAV) during the second half of last year with the intention of selling after the 6m unlock period … As the 6m unlocked period expires, some of these institutional investors might sell GBTC during the first half of 2021 to monetize the premium. If it materializes, this selling pressure would put downward pressure on GBTC premiums.” Emphasizing that a bitcoin ETF would provide an alternative investment vehicle to GBTC for institutional investors, the JP Morgan analysts concluded: A cascade of GBTC outflows and a collapse of its premium would likely have negative near-term implications for bitcoin given the flow and signaling importance of GBTC. Nonetheless, JP Morgan’s analysts admitted in their report that the approval of a bitcoin ETF in the U.S. would be positive for bitcoin over the long term. Many people on Twitter disagree with the assessment by JP Morgan’s analysts that an SEC-approved bitcoin ETF would be negative for the industry at all. Vaneck’s director of digital assets strategy, Gabor Gurbacs, tweeted that “Institutions want a bitcoin ETF.” His company recently filed a proposal with the SEC for a bitcoin ETF. Gurbacs opined: “I believe that a bitcoin ETF may bring many structural benefits to the bitcoin as well as traditional financial markets.” Contrasting JP Morgan analysts’ view, the Vaneck director wrote, “The approval of a bitcoin ETF would be positive for bitcoin in the near as well as long term.” Do you think the SEC approving a bitcoin ETF this year is good for bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

A region in the Pacific Northwest of the United States is on high alert because of concerns about a possible invasion of bitcoin (BTC) miners. The state has previously experienced an influx of Chinese bitcoin miners, due to decreasing electricity prices. Bitcoin Bull-Run Could Revive Interest in Mining, Officials Warn Per the Seattle Times, bitcoin’s bull-run is putting the public utility districts (PUD) in Central Washington on high alert, monitoring for suspiciously high power bills. PUD officials claim crypto miners from China have come to the region to take advantage of its low hydroelectricity prices. Such developments worry the Columbia River Basin authorities because the “2017-2018 mining boom could happen again.” Although electricity prices have been increased to combat mining, authorities believe new bitcoin miners could still establish themselves in the state. So far the authorities haven’t seen an increase in commercial mining, however, the PUDs still brace for a return of “small-scale mines” that could overload local residential power lines. John Stoll, managing director of customer utilities at Chelan County’s PUD, commented on the matter: We haven’t seen that, but definitely we are keeping our radar up. PUDs Are Not Willing to Welcome New Bitcoin Miners Stoll says he doesn’t let his guard down, keeping an eye on market volatility: The biggest concern we have is somebody coming in, we build 50 megawatts’ worth of capacity for them, bitcoin prices change, and then they just leave. Seattle Times quotes one of the measures taken by Grant County, where costs for bitcoin miners will be increased if the outlet meets this specific criterion: it’s using 5% or more of the district’s power. But building new mining facilities is not the only headache that PUDs are facing. The districts’ officials believe small-size bitcoin miners could restart operations from currently inactive facilities. The U.S. East Coast is also witnessing its own bitcoin mining-related controversy. On December 20, 2020, organizations led by an environmental organization filed a lawsuit against the U.S. town Torrey in New York for giving the green light to expand a bitcoin mining facility at the Greenidge Generation power plant. What do you think about Central Washington’s concerns? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Guggenheim Investments’ global chief investment officer has some advice on what investors should do as the price of bitcoin plummets. His company, with $230 billion in assets under management, has been trying to buy bitcoin for months. Guggenheim’s Strategist Has Some Bitcoin Advice as Price Falls Scott Minerd, Guggenheim Investments’ global chief investment officer, has shared his recommendation on bitcoin as the price of the cryptocurrency tumbled. Guggenheim Investments is an asset management firm with over $230 billion under management. The price of bitcoin dropped about 25% in the past 24 hours, before recovering slightly. The market cap of bitcoin has fallen from more than $760 billion to below $600 billion during the same time period. Minerd tweeted Sunday night: Bitcoin’s parabolic rise is unsustainable in the near term. Vulnerable to a setback. The target technical upside of $35,000 has been exceeded. Time to take some money off the table. Comments flooded his Twitter thread with many people accusing Minerd of manipulating the bitcoin market and wanting to purchase many bitcoins at a discount. “Take some off the table so you can scoop up cheap coin? Nah,” one Twitter user wrote. Another commented: “You are not getting my bitcoin. Nice try.” A third opined, “You must be new to bitcoin.” Another Twitter user chimed in: “Everyone reading this needs to realize that Guggenheim has not even bought [bitcoin] yet. They are still waiting on the approval from the SEC, their ability to buy from Greyscale Trust doesn’t take into effect till January 31st.” Trader and economist Alex Krüger shared Guggenheim’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Twitter, pointing out: Guggenheim’s SEC filing to invest in bitcoin via GBTC … proposed filing would become effective Jan. 31. Seems Minerd wants to buy $500 million in bitcoin and as the price runs higher he’s now telling people to take profits. According to the company’s SEC filing, “the Guggenheim Macro Opportunities Fund may seek investment exposure to bitcoin indirectly through investing up to 10% of its net asset value in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (‘GBTC’), a privately offered investment vehicle that invests in bitcoin.” In December, Minerd himself revealed that Guggenheim was waiting for the SEC to approve its fund to invest in BTC. “We made the decision to start allocating towards bitcoin when bitcoin was at $10,000,” he was quoted as saying. “It’s a little more challenging with the current price of $20,000.” Nonetheless, Minerd stressed that his firm will be buying bitcoin, predicting that the cryptocurrency would reach $400,000 based on its fundamentals. What do you think about the Guggenheim strategist’s advice on bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article

Cryptocurrency markets have suffered significant losses during the last 24 hours, as the entire crypto market cap has dropped below a trillion to $823 billion losing roughly 9.9% in value. Since the bitcoin price height on Sunday, January 10, bitcoin’s price plummeted over 25%, seeing the largest price dive of the year. Digital currency markets are in the red on Monday, as crypto assets have lost anywhere between 15% to over 35% during the last 24 hours. The leading digital asset by market valuation, bitcoin (BTC) is down over 20% at the time of publication. Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of $30,261 on Monday afternoon (EST) losing 25.2% after reaching a high of $41,056 on Sunday. At the time of writing, BTC is swapping for prices above $32k per unit with $38 billion in global BTC trade volume. Bitcoin (BTC) touched a low of $30,261 at approximately 11:35 a.m. (EST) on Monday. Ethereum lost significant value during the last 24 hours as well as the crypto asset is currently down 27%. Ethereum (ETH) is swapping for $933 per unit after reaching well above the $13k handle the day prior. XRP took a 15% loss as it trades for $0.27 per token and bitcoin cash (BCH) is down 30% today. BCH hit a 2021 high on Sunday, capturing a value of over $625 per coin. Right now, however, bitcoin cash (BCH) is changing hands at $413 per unit. The biggest gainers today are up between 8% to 91% on Monday with the token stakenet leading the pack. This is followed by other crypto-assets that have seen gains on Monday including STK, ZEN, MXC, and DAG. The biggest losing token today in the crypto economy is CTXC which has lost 47%. Following CTXC, coins such as DMT, BCD, RCN, and MKR have seen some deep losses as well. The CME bitcoin futures chart now has an upside gap. Since bitcoin’s (BTC) significant drop this past weekend, there’s now an upside gap on the CME Group bitcoin futures chart. The two large gaps on both sides are between $23,670 – $26,645 (downside) and between $39,165 – $40,535 (upside). Simon Peters, an analyst at Etoro, explained in a note to investors that crypto markets are still in a healthy position. “Despite the dip yesterday— we are still in a healthy position,” Peters wrote. “Not only are we continuing to see institutional investment, but bitcoin being held on exchanges is decreasing as investors move their tokens to wallets, with Glassnode data showing an increasing level of illiquid bitcoin as more and more investors hodl.” The Etoro analyst further added he wouldn’t be surprised to see BTC prices above the $70k range at the end of the year. “I believe we can look to the $70,000-90,000 range as a price target for the end of 2021,” Peters said. “There will inevitably be bumps along the road, and no doubt a number of retracements will occur, but there are also gains still to be had.” Check out all the latest cryptocurrency price action in real-time at markets.Bitcoin.com. What do you think about the big cryptocurrency price dips on Monday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. YFDAI Finance, a prominent decentralized finance (DeFi) project has recently announced the launch of two prominent products as it works towards strengthening its position in the sector. These products include SafeSwap – a DEX (decentralized exchange) platform for the YFDAI Finance ecosystem and Launchpad – a crypto startup advisory and incubation program. The SafeSwap DEX offers an open, transparent place for crypto projects to list their tokens and make them accessible to the global crypto community. SafeSwap is built on a fork of Uniswap, a tried and tested exchange protocol for trustless swap of ERC20 tokens, and is further reinforced by the creation and implementation of strict project evaluation and listing criteria. Apart from offering a place for swapping and trading popular cryptocurrencies, SafeSwap’s operations are designed to work in tandem with various other YFDAI Finance products and services including the newly launched YFDAI Launchpad. The YFDAI Launchpad is an incubator program devised to help crypto project ideas and startups realize their goals. Startups selected to be on the platform will receive guidance and development services from YFDAI’s team of experts as well as other partner organizations, which includes the likes of Foundry Incubator, Ferrum Network and Blockchain Consilium. The platform also provides projects that are part of the Launchpad program with support for crowd-based fundraising through its partnership with DuckDAO decentralized fundraisers, as well as locked smart contracts created for Uniswap and its own newly launched SafeSwap DEX. “For far too long buyers of tokens have been left with no protection, it’s time for change. The YFDAI Launchpad allows projects to gain a seal of approval that will stand out and give investors confidence to invest in the next big DeFi project.” – Pritha Paul, YFDAI CSO With the first two products now out in the open, YFDAI Finance continues to work on new DeFi products and services including an e-commerce platform, debit cards, a centralized exchange, fiat-to-crypto on/off ramps and trading bots. About YFDAI Finance YFDAI Finance is a DeFi ecosystem focused on four key values: accessibility, security, intuitive governance, and a trustless protocol. With YFDAI, users anywhere can access a suite of DeFi services including farming, lending, borrowing and staking. Learn more about YFDAI Finance at – https://yfdai.finance/ Follow YFDAI Finance on Twitter at – https://twitter.com/YfdaiF Join the YFDAI Finance community on Telegram at – https://twitter.com/YfdaiF Read more about YFDAI Finance on Medium at – https://yfdaifinance.medium.com/ This is a press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. View the full article

Two New York City bars are up for sale for a combined 25 bitcoins or 800 ether – over $800k at current prices. Bar owner Patrick Hughes has seen the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on his operations and decided to sell the two watering holes for crypto. ● “Crypto is on fire, it’s a hot currency,” Hughes told the New York Post on Jan. 9. “It’s decentralized. It’s global.” The 56-year-old Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ, resident’s decision may have been motivated by bitcoin’s recent bullish run – and also the need to preserve value against a falling dollar. ● Hughes is selling his side-by-side Hell’s Kitchen outfits, Hellcat Annie’s and Scruffy Duffy’s, both located on Tenth Avenue for crypto only, said the report. The man’s family has been in the Manhattan bar business since 1970, it added, though these two bars were opened later. ● “I’m hoping to catch one of these crypto dudes who always wanted to own a bar,” said Hughes. He’s put up a bitcoin (BTC) sale sign in front of the bars, but inquiries have been mostly casual. The bar owner remains upbeat a serious buyer will come along. ● Prior to the pandemic, Hughes had up to 50 people employed at his two establishments, but that is now down to just “five or six” people. His businesses largely remained closed for most of 2020, as per the report. Hellcat Annie’s reopened in November but Scruffy Duffy’s remains closed. ● More people are starting to see the monetary value of bitcoin. In September last year, U.S. aircraft sales company Aviatrade Inc., said it would accept BTC as a means of payment for its luxury jets. The first plane to go on sale for crypto was a six-year-old Gulfstream G650ER, which was selling for $40 million or the bitcoin equivalent. What do you think about the two New York bars being sold for bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below. View the full article