roadrunner

DMEX is a decentralized anonymous margin trading exchange that doesn’t require KYC checks, simply generate a wallet inside the app and start trading. No KYC Because DMEX runs on a smart contract you do not need to register with your personal information. Simply generate a new wallet in-app and start trading right away. Asynchronous Matching Engine Most decentralized exchanges provide synchronous trade executions, which means you have to wait for the last trade to record on the blockchain before performing a new one. DMEX however, implements a state-of-the-art matching engine that tracks your account balance while the transactions are still being confirmed on the blockchain. This means that you can execute multiple trades, instantly, that will be recorded within the same block giving you the same experience as you would get on a centralized exchange like BitMEX. Instant Withdrawals Once the trade is confirmed on the blockchain, you can withdraw the funds straight away. Confirmation usually takes no longer than 30 seconds. Perpetual Contracts and up To 100x Leverage Perpetual contracts are the most popular trading instrument in the crypto derivatives world. DMEX offers perpetual contracts on all pairs and up to 100x leverage, with comparable funding rates to the industry standard and trading fees as low as 0.05% depending on your order size. BTC/ETH/DAI as Margin Currencies DMEX is the first of its kind DEX to allow BTC as margin currency. This is possible thanks to the integration of pTokens Bridge straight into the DMEX smart contract. When choosing to use BTC as margin currency, you get a BTC deposit address, and all funds sent to it are tokenized and deposited to DMEX while you still hold full custody of your bitcoin all of the time. More details on the BTC integration can be found here: https://docs.dmex.app/bitcoin-integration And if you want to protect yourself from price volatily, then why not use DAI as margin currency? DAI is a stablecoin with it’s value pegged 1:1 to USD. Anonymous DMEX is fully anonymous. You do not need to enter any personal information to trade on DMEX. Simply generate a wallet or use an existing one, store your private key in a safe place and you are ready to trade without any limitations. Non-Custodial Funds Storage All funds on DMEX are in the custody of the users at all times. DMEX team does not have access to user funds. Only the person holding the private key to the wallet can trade and withdraw funds from the exchange. Holding funds on DMEX is as safe as holding them in your wallet. Oracalized Price Feeds All expiration and liquidations are performed using oracalized (decentralized) price feeds from trusted exchanges like Bitstamp and Binance. The DMEX team has no way of manipulating the expiration or liquidation price on your position, it comes straight from the reference exchange. Demo Trading DMEX offers demo trading as an option. Instantly receive test funds to your wallet and start trading on the test net. Small Spreads & High Liquidity DMEX provides access to industry-leading liquidity providers, which allows for razor-thin spreads and high liquidity, meaning that slippage is not an issue on DMEX. Dev Team DMEX has been on the market since June 2019 and is now at its 5th iteration of the underlying smart contract infrastructure with zero funds lost due to bugs or hacks. DMEX was developed by an experienced team that has operated a large centralized Bitcoin Exchange and later released the EtherMium DEX in 2018 as an improvement on EtherDelta. This makes them competent enough to provide a stable and secure trading environment as well as a massively improved product offering compared to the existing centralized options. If you are looking for a safe place to trade crypto derivatives without going through KYC procedures and having the ability to withdraw funds at any time even in the unlikely event of the website being down, search no further. DMEX looks like a platform with great potential, especially given the recent crackdowns on centralized derivatives exchanges, pushing more and more traders towards decentralized alternatives. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post DMEX: No-KYC Derivatives DEX With up To 100x Leverage appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Hedge fund manager Brian Kelly says the surging number of institutional investors owning bitcoin is down to the digital currency’s core value proposition- a fixed coin supply. On the other hand, the same institutional investor interest is helping to build confidence in the top cryptocurrency while taking away some of the perceived risks. Bitcoin Value Proposition Kelly’s comments follow reports that the European Central Bank (ECB) wants to issue its own digital currency. Speaking in an interview, Kelly, who is the founder of BK Asset Management, dismisses the notion that a central bank-issued digital currency poses a threat to bitcoin. Noting that China and the U.S. have similar plans, Kelly is quick to point out that none of the central bank-issued digital currencies can match bitcoin’s value proposition. Kelly explains: I cannot imagine the ECB issuing a digital currency that has a fixed supply. In fact, I would think it (digital Euro) will make it a lot easier for them to digitally print more money. Furthermore, he says it is this creation of excess money by central banks that “carry risks for holders fiat currency.” Creating excess money highlights why bitcoin (BTC) is seen as “digital gold.” Bitcoin vs Gold However, when asked about his bitcoin price prediction, an evasive Kelly offers an explanation of what is likely to happen first before the top crypto makes its biggest break. He says: Bitcoin has been above $15,000 for more than 12 days in its entire history. I suspect that some people who bought in late 2017 and in 2018 might want get out of it. So I would not be surprised to see a pullback. Still, the fund manager says that he will not be surprised if the value surged further in the “longer term.” Bitcoin, which trades above $16,150 at the time of writing, has a total market value of over $300 billion. In contrast, the total value of known gold stocks is $9 trillion, a figure that dwarfs bitcoin’s total market value several times over. Without being specific, Kelly says the current disparity between bitcoin and gold prices means “there is a lot scope for upside.” Large Traders Double on CME Meanwhile, backing Kelly’s strong assertions that institutional investors are heavily involved in the bitcoin, is the latest weekly report by Arcane Research. According to the report, the number of large bitcoin traders on the CME “has more than doubled this year” while open interest is nearing $1billion. Arcane Research cites a report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showing almost 100 large traders that hold the bitcoin contracts on CME. This contrasts with the year 2019 when there were only 45 such large traders. The report concludes that “this is perhaps one of the best indications of increased institutional demand for bitcoin exposure.” What are your thoughts about Kelly’s bitcoin price prediction? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Hedge Fund Manager Brian Kelly Says Increasing Institutional Interest in Bitcoin Down to its Fixed Supply appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

With bitcoin prices hovering over a certain handle, a great number of old ASIC mining rigs manufactured years ago are starting to become profitable again. Reports indicate that in China, where the average electricity cost is around $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), miners are starting to leverage old miners manufactured by Canaan, Bitmain, and others. Chinese bitcoin miners dealing with electronic component price increases have found outdated rigs like the Antminer S9 (10-16 TH/s) are now reaping profits again. The price of bitcoin (BTC) is making it easier for cryptocurrency miners worldwide to obtain a profit, especially after the recent mining difficulty drop that slid over 16% downwards. Additionally, BTC prices jumped from a closing price of $11,548 on October 13, 2020, and 30 days later on November 12, the price closed at a high of $16,305 per coin increasing 41.19%. Regional reports from China show that the high BTC prices between $12k to $16k have invoked Chinese miners to start leveraging old miners again. In addition to the S9 models profiting, older machines made by Canaan Creative, Bitfury, GMO, Bitfily, Whatsminer, Halong, Ebang, and Pantech profit at higher bitcoin prices too. At the time of publication, the two 2018 series Avalonminers (921 and 841) are profiting between $0.21 to $0.59 per day if the miner is paying around $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Financial columnist, Vincent He, recently discussed the Bitmain S9 series (10-16 TH/s) and notes that the mining rig is pulling in profits for Chinese miners today. “The price increase of electronic components at the end of the year led to the improvement of S9’s cost performance,” the author noted on November 11. Old mining rigs are not just pulling in a profit these days with BTC prices so high, the columnist notes. Vincent also says that numerous mining farms are located in desert regions where dust is high, and some are located in regions like Sichuan where humidity is higher than average. These effects “shorten the life of the machines” and mining rigs like the “S9 has a better stability ratio because of its simple structure and relatively low computing power,” according to the report. Estimates say at one time, the S9 miner (13 TH/s) was so widely used, these four-year-old machines powered around 70% of the BTC hashrate. Roughly 11 Antminer S9 models manufactured by Bitmain that are anywhere between 1-4 years old, show profits between $0.10 to $0.59 at $0.06 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) using exchange rates for BTC on Friday, November 13, 2020. BTC prices have dropped on Friday, November 13, and are a touch lower than the closing price the day prior. But data from Asicminervalue.com indicates that a number of older mining rigs produced by Canaan, Bitmain, and others are profiting at an electricity rate of $0.06 per kWh. Every single Bitmain Antminer S9 with a hashrate between 10 to 16 terahash per second (TH/s) profits today. A number of older generation miners are being sold for $100-$800 depending on the model and hashrate. Marketplaces like Ebay and Craigslist have an abundant amount of miners for sale from manufacturers like Canaan, Bitmain, Microbt, Ebang, and many others. Similarly, three old Avalonminers created by Canaan are profiting as well, except for the Avalonminer 821 and 741 series. In addition to the popular S9s and Avalonminers, outdated mining rigs created by Bitfury, GMO, Bitfily, Whatsminer, Halong, Ebang, Pantech, and other ASICs also show profits. The older mining rigs are also seeing increased prices on second-markets in the U.S. and in Europe on marketplaces like Ebay and Craigslist. For example, a Whatsminer M3 with 11.5 TH/s is selling on Ebay for $500, while old-school Antminer S9s are selling for $100-$800 per unit. Not too long ago, when BTC prices were lower and the difficulty was higher, outdated ASICs sold for $50-$250 per unit with a terahash output between 10-16 TH/s. Vincent’s report further notes that next-gen ASIC miners with an output of 70 to 100 TH/s have a greater number of computer boards than older models. The compact design of older mining rigs like the S9 series helps miners in China with warehouse space issues, as well as reducing power consumption the report details. What do you think about older-generation ASICs like the Antminer S9 making a comeback? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post S9 Resurrection: Higher Bitcoin Prices Allow Miners to Switch Outdated Mining Rigs Back On appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. IMCoin, known as the first Hybridcoin, closes a week with a record price increase in its history reaching a value of 1.83 USD per token. The IMC price is the result of the number of tokens sold divided by the balance of the audited reserve fund, which already has 417 days of history. This week IMC reached a total of 19,028,319 tokens sold and a reserve or underlying fund of $34,777,399. The goal of IMC is to reach the end of the year with a value of 2 USD and to continue at this rate seems an achievable goal. The objective of IMCoin is to be the first Hybridcoin on the market, giving its holders the possibility of having an asset backed with an audited and public underlying where the money from the sale of the token is entered, but which in turn tries to increase in value to positively impact the price of the coin. In this way, the team considers that both the Stablecoin and Performance Coins public can be interested in and benefit from IMCoin. People who invest in Stablecoins will no longer have to sacrifice profitability for stability and people who invest in cryptocurrencies will no longer have to sacrifice stability for returns. Token sales: Start: May 15, 2019 (9:00 AM GMT) Ends: April 15, 2021 (11:00 a.m. GMT) Number of tokens for sale: 100,000,000 Initial token price: 1.00 USD Current token price: $1.83 (updated based on underlying) January 2021 projected price: $2.00 Token currently sold: 19,028,319 Minimum purchase amount: 100 IMC Fondo de reserva auditor externo: https://www.fxblue.com/users/imcoin Web: https://www.imcoinproject.com Telegram: @imcoinok Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imcoinok Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imcoinok email: info@imcoinproject.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. The post IMCoin (IMC) Flies High appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In 2020, the U.S. Federal Reserve has injected an enormous amount of U.S. dollars to special interests in the banking sector in order to combat the economic effects stemming from the coronavirus outbreak. This week the central bank published its financial stability report and the Fed discussed addressing climate change for the first time. A number of economists and analysts now believe the Fed plans to help President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team print $1.7 trillion for the Democrat’s plan the “Green New Deal.” During World War II and after the stock market crash during the Great Depression, President Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR) ushered in a “New Deal” in order to combat the hurting American economy. In 2020, Americans are hearing about another so-called deal called the “Green New Deal” designed by Democrat leaders in Congress. The Green New Deal is a government proposal that aims to leverage stimulus and strict laws to battle climate change and economic inequality. The plan calls for the distribution of a massive amount of Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) and laws that help America transition away from fossil fuels. The Green New Deal proposal is otherwise known as H. RES. 109. For quite some time people assumed that the Green New Deal would grow stale under another four-year Trump presidency and without help from the Federal Reserve. However, now that it is assumed Joe Biden will be the next U.S. President, even though Trump won’t concede, individuals expect the New Green Deal to get pushed through Congress. Then this week, the U.S. central bank published the Fed’s financial stability report, which usually discusses a variety of banking procedures but instead, the Fed highlighted climate change. “Federal Reserve supervisors expect banks to have systems in place that appropriately identify, measure, control, and monitor all of their material risks, which for many banks are likely to extend to climate risks,” the financial stability report stresses. Now, this is the first time the Fed wrote about addressing climate change in a stability report, but Fed Governor Lael Brainard addressed the issue in 2019 as well. The recently published financial stability report has made economists, media, and analysts suspect that the Fed will support the Democrats and Biden’s plan to usher in the New Green Deal. Moreover, it will allow the U.S. central bank to keep the money spigot on full blast, as the New Green Deal needs around $1.7 trillion according to the proposal. Some speculators believe Fed Governor Lael Brainard will be the next candidate for the U.S. Treasury Secretary seat. Brainard is also onboard with using the U.S. central bank to address climate change. In addition to getting $1.7 trillion from the Fed and the Treasury, Democrats want to end hydraulic fracturing in the U.S. as well. Mainstream media reporters also assume that Lael Brainard is a “top contender for Treasury Secretary in President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet.” “It is vitally important to move from the recognition that climate change poses significant financial stability risks to the stage where the quantitative implications of those risks are appropriately assessed and addressed,” Brainard explained discussing the subject of climate change and its looming effects on the U.S. economy. Ever since the announcement that Joe Biden might be the next U.S. President and the vaccine proclamation from Pfizer, spot gold and gold futures saw the largest daily price drop in seven years. Bitcoin (BTC) prices have done the opposite and BTC’s value recently jumped over the $16k price zone. With a possible Joe Biden presidency, a great number of bitcoin proponents expect a lot more stimulus from the Fed and politicians. “Now that the U.S. election is behind us, attention is returning to the proposed fiscal stimulus package,” said the crypto asset analyst Simon Peters from Etoro this week. “Even with the prospect of a Covid-19 vaccine, the U.S. economy will still need support to assist it through the period before it is made available to people. The size of the package and the mechanics behind its funding could be the catalyst to finally take us past $17,500,” Peters added. Financial pundits assume the Fed is planning to help push the Green New Deal through in 2021. However, this week incumbent POTUS Donald Trump plans to shake up the Fed board, which has started to worry U.S. Democrats. Although, the media still assumes that President-elect Joe Biden will keep Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in his position after the ostensible administration transition. Just recently, the Fed Chairman also discussed the topic of climate change, and he talked about how it could be incorporated into the central bank’s procedures. “Incorporating climate change into our thinking about financial regulation is relatively new, as you know,” Powell said. “And we are very active in the early stages of this, getting up to speed, working with our central bank colleagues and other colleagues around the world to try to think about how this can be part of our framework.” What do you think about the U.S. Federal Reserve talking about stimulus plans for climate change and the New Green Deal? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Printing $1.7 Trillion for Climate Change: How Joe Biden’s Administration Aims to Push the ‘Green New Deal’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Atlanta-based cryptocurrency payment processing company Bitpay is now getting involved with payroll services. The firm announced the launch of Bitpay Send, a mass payout service that enables organizations of all sizes to pay employees, affiliates, and freelance contractors. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payment services provider Bitpay has announced the launch of a new product called Bitpay Send. The new platform is called a mass payout service and it aims to help employers and other types of organizations pay workers in crypto. In addition to the Bitpay Send launch, the firm also detailed that the company Adgate Media now leverages the mass payout system. Adgate connects with digital advertiser affiliates that reward users for engagement. “We have lots of affiliates who wanted to be paid in bitcoin, especially those who are based outside North America and Europe where access to bank accounts is difficult,” said Dan Sapozhnikov Adgate‘s President. “One of our biggest challenges is that we did not want to buy and hold crypto and having Bitpay manage that risk was an important factor in choosing Bitpay Send,” he added. Sapozhnikov further said: With Bitpay Send, we are able to get our affiliates paid in a matter of minutes and not days. Bitpay’s service will compete with companies like Bitwage, a firm that also offers infrastructure to pay a company’s employees with digital assets like BTC, and BCH. In order to leverage the new Bitpay Send, users don’t need a bank account to leverage the platform. However, Bitpay Send users will need access to a crypto asset wallet and have a Bitpay ID. The company announcement says the firm will charge a 1% fee for processing cross-border payments. “Blockchain payment adoption is growing because it offers an easy way to send and receive payments on a global scale,” said Stephen Pair, CEO of Bitpay. “Traditional international payment methods are cumbersome, costly, and slow. With Bitpay Send, companies can make mass payouts without having to buy, own or manage crypto and their recipients receive payments quicker and at a lower cost,” the executive added. Bitpay’s system allows for payments in BTC, BCH, ETH, XRP, and a few stablecoin assets as well. The Bitpay Send announcement also states that “Customers provide all necessary background details for Know-Your-Customer regulations.” “Bitpay Send enables companies to make payroll payments, facilitate customer cashout requests, pay independent contractors or affiliates, issue rewards or rebates and financially settle with marketplace sellers,” the firm’s product launch statements conclude. “The company funds payments in fiat and leverages the blockchain to send pre-tax payments without having to own or handle digital currency, eliminating inherent exposure to its volatility or risk.” What do you think about Bitpay offering payroll services for companies who want to pay in crypto assets? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Bitpay Launches New Payroll Service for Companies That Opt to Pay Employees in Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Decentralized finance (defi) protocol Akropolis was on Thursday hacked for $2 million in DAI, in the latest flash loan attack to hit the nascent defi industry. The attacker pilfered the platform’s Ycurve pool in batches of $50,000 in the stablecoin DAI. This particular pool allows investors to trade stablecoins and earn interest. In a statement on Nov. 12, Akropolis revealed that the hack was executed across a body of smart contracts in its “savings pools”. “At ~14:36 GMT we noticed a discrepancy in the APYs of our stablecoin pools and identified that ~2.0mn DAI had been drained out of the Ycurve and sUSD pools,” it said. The pools are said to have been audited by two firms, but the hacker still found loopholes to exploit, wiring his loot to this address. Akropolis explained: The attack vectors used in the exploit were not identified in either audit. The essence of the exploit in question is a combination of a re-entrancy attack with Dydx flash loan origination. Others pools were not affected. These include compound DAI, compound USDC, AAVE sUSD, AAVE bUSD, curve bUSD, curve sBTC, it stated. Native AKRO and ADEL staking pools were also left untouched. Akropolis is a defi lending and savings protocol. Users can take out loans, and they can also earn interest on crypto deposits. The Akropolis team said it is looking at ways to reimburse affected users “in a way that is sustainable for the project”. All stablecoin pools have been halted for now, it added. In October, another defi project Harvest Finance was hacked for $24 million. The attacker targeted the protocol’s liquidity pools, performing an arbitrage attack using a large flash loan – a type of uncollatarized loan. What do you think about the Akropolis hack? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Hackers Drain $2 Million in DAI From Defi Protocol Akropolis appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since February 2020, we have seen a steady growth of the blockchain space and, most significantly, decentralized finance. While DeFi isn’t entirely new, the network’s growth has been more aggressive this year than it has ever been. The distribution of COMP governance token and the introduction of yield farming protocols around June this year has made DeFi the most engaging conversation in the blockchain space, no doubt. Decentralized finance has only grown this much because of the control and ease it offers users. By allowing users to utilize traditional banking and financing services like lending, borrowing, and saving, an overwhelming sense of trust has been birthed over the past few months. Even more captivating is that many users now earn more than 100% of their capital, mostly by offering liquidity through yield farming protocols. DeFi Yield Protocol (DYP) Over the past couple of months, we have also seen a contrast between different DeFi protocols and what might set a precedent for the DeFi ecosystem’s longevity as a whole. The DeFi yield protocol (DYP) is a unique protocol that allows virtually any user to provide liquidity, earn DYP tokens as yield while maintaining the token price. Unlike some DeFi user interface, the DYP interface is quite simplified, accommodating new and expert yield farmers. What Makes the DYP Staking Pool Unique? DYP developers, together with a blockchain company, developed the unique DYP staking. The DYP staking allows users to stake dAPP through the Ethereum smart contract that is front-end integrated with Metamask and Trustwallet. By studying some flaws of the DeFi ecosystem, DYP aims to tackle them head on and give users the best experience in open finance. One of the many arguments against the operability of defi revolves around “whales” controlling the network. One of such examples is the infamous Sushi dump where the anonymous founder dumped all of his Sushi tokens for ethereum. To prevent a whale attack, DYP developed an anti-manipulation feature that automatically converts all pool rewards from DYP to ETH at 00:00 UTC everyday. The system then distributes the rewards to liquidity providers. This manipulation feature ensures that the pool’s liquidity is fair to every participant. Besides preventing whales through the anti-manipulating feature, the smart contract also maintains the DYP token price. If the DYP price fluctuates beyond 2.5% in value, rather than swapping all 276,480 DYP tokens for ETH at 00:00 UTC, the smart contract only swaps as many DYP tokens to ETH that doesn’t affect the price of the token. The leftover DYP is then distributed in the next day’s rewards. If there are still leftover DYP tokens, the DYP governance votes on whether to distribute them to token holders or burn the tokens from circulation. The decentralized network is essentially an open space regulated by a smart contract, and the greatest risk in yield farming today is still a smart contract bug. To prevent the risk of a smart contract bug on their network, DYP ensures all their smart contract codes are audited. DYP Yield Farming and the Ethereum Mining Network As the Ethereum network continues to increase in size and number, there’s a corresponding need for mining on the network. The DYP team has been committed to Ethereum mining for more than three years and have invested more than $1m on their mining farm. Not only is the team heavily invested in Ethereum mining, but the DYP team has also shown its willingness to allow many more users to participate. To reward users, every ethereum miner address that interacts with the DYP smart contract will earn a monthly bonus of 10% in DYP of the ETH income earned monthly. Essentially what this means is; if ETH price is $400 and DYP price is $2, if you earn 1ETH monthly, you also get a monthly airdrop of 10% (20 DYP tokens worth $40). To claim the airdrop tokens, users will need to join their Ethereum mining pool with a 0% fee, meaning users will also earn more monthly. DYP also has an automatic earn vault that moves a participant’s funds around using the best yield farming strategies. The automatic earn vault will distribute 75% of the earnings among the liquidity providers and 25% to buy back DYP tokens. Ultimately this promotes liquidity in the pool and maintains the price of the token. DYP Crowdsale When the decentralized finance ecosystem seeks a balance while setting a precedent for its mainstream adoption, DYP is actively laying a foundation from its public crowdsale. During the whitelisting and presale round, 570,000 DYP tokens worth 2,821.71 ETH have been sold. For a chance to participate in this unique protocol, join the public crowdsale at https://crowdsale.dyp.finance/. This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Defi Yield Protocol Is a Massive Boost for Yield Farmers and the Defi Space appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. GMT has started the pre-sale of the GMT token. In total 100,000 GMT will be sold in this phase at the price of 1GMT=0,004ETH and will increase to 1GMT=0,01ETH in the next round. Minimum purchase is 0,5ETH. Grandmarche is a DeFi platform that offers saving and borrowing, plus it will be the anchor of three South East Asia stable coins based on THB, SGD and PHP with 1:2 decentralised collateral system. In other words, this platform will be designed to eliminate middlemen and cost of custody in money markets. GMT token will function as the main lending token in GrandMarche, and governance token. Remember the daily volume of ASEAN’s forex market is around USD1,5 trillion. So, in the future, there is huge potential, creating a DeFi that someday will be used by ASEAN’s banks to swap some of their forex reserves. Grandmarche has secured some funding from private and angel investors. And they are ready to begin developing the protocol further, and they aim to be the largest pool of lending and borrowing. Tokenomy: Total Supply : 1,000,000 GMT Blockchain: ERC20 Token Holders: Angel investor ( vested in 2 years): 400,000 GMT Token Sales (pre-sales + crowdfunding): 300,000GMT Private Sales (vested in 6 months): 100,000GMT Team + Advisors: (vested 12 months) : 150,000GMT Ecosystem Leader + airdrop : 50,000GMT Twitter: https://twitter.com/GrandMarche_ofc Website: https://grandmarche.io Youtube channel: https://tinyurl.com/y6ymkme3 Press Contact Email Address c.roberts@grandmarche.io Supporting Link https://grandmarche.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. The post GMT Token Pre-sale is Live Now appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Russian Ministry of Finance has developed new amendments to the country’s cryptocurrency regulation. The proposal outlines a new set of rules for crypto owners, exchanges, and miners, as well as penalties for undeclared crypto transactions. Russia’s New Crypto Regulation Russia’s Ministry of Finance has proposed new amendments to the country’s law on digital financial assets that will go into effect in January, Russian business newspaper RBC reported Thursday. Cryptocurrency owners, both individuals and organizations, will be required to report their crypto transactions and wallet balances to the tax authority if the total transaction amount exceeds 600,000 rubles ($7,757) in a calendar year, the proposal details. This is a significant increase from the ministry’s proposal in September that required taxpayers with a total transaction of 100,000 rubles to report their transactions and holdings to the tax authority. The first reporting deadline will be April 30, 2022. The new proposal also requires cryptocurrency exchanges and miners to provide information on their cryptocurrency transactions to Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service. Failing to disclose data to the tax authorities twice in three years or deliberately providing false information is a criminal offense, the publication conveyed. For taxpayers with crypto transactions worth 45 million rubles or more in two of the past three years, the proposed punishments include a fine ranging from 500,000 rubles to 2 million rubles, forced labor of up to five years, and imprisonment for a period of between 18 months and three years. Punishments for unreported crypto transactions of smaller value include a fine, forced labor, and a shorter period of detention. Following the announcement, the finance ministry clarified that the regulation is necessary to prevent the illegal use of cryptocurrencies. “The use of digital currencies is increasing every year. Often this happens not only for investment purposes but also for money laundering,” the ministry’s press service noted. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the bill on digital financial assets into law in July which will go into effect in January. It legalizes cryptocurrency but prohibits its use for payments of goods and services. Government officials will also be required to declare if they have any cryptocurrencies, according to Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov. Meanwhile, the country’s central bank, the Bank of Russia, has unveiled its plans to build and test a central bank digital currency, the digital ruble. What do you think about the Russian crypto law and penalties? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Russia Proposes New Rules and Penalties for Cryptocurrency Owners appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The blockchain intelligence and surveillance company Chainalysis revealed the launch of a new program that aims to help governments and insolvency practitioners sell seized cryptocurrencies. The news follows the recent U.S. government seizure of more than 69,000 BTC worth over $1 billion on November 3. Blockchain surveillance firm Chainalysis announced the launch of a new program that caters to recovering, storing, and selling crypto assets that have been seized by law enforcement officials. “[The] asset realization program [will] help government agencies and insolvency practitioners handle, store, realize, and monitor seized assets,” Chainalysis said on Thursday. Chainalysis explained that when law enforcement is working with illicit cryptocurrency assets oftentimes the entity will need to not only seize the crypto, but also have to store them until legal forfeiture. The company believes licensed professionals, insolvency practitioners, and governments worldwide will need a reliable program that can be a “safe way to track, store, and ultimately sell seized cryptocurrency assets for fiat currency.” “As cryptocurrencies become more mainstream, they will increasingly be used by good and bad actors alike,” Jason Bonds, the chief revenue officer at Chainalysis said on Thursday. “Chainalysis is dedicated to building trust in digital assets, and that means helping to detect and investigate illicit activity. As our government partners become more successful in rooting out bad actors, assisting them with asset recovery and realization is a natural next step.” The Chainalysis announcement also notes that the company has partnered with a firm called Asset Reality. The asset consultancy service Asset Reality manages seized crypto assets and the firm works with global law enforcement handling “complex assets.” The announcement also details that Chainalysis helped U.S. law enforcement “identify and investigate the cryptocurrency wallets used” in the recent Silk Road bitcoin confiscation. U.S. law enforcement agencies have already requested help from the private sector with storing and selling confiscated crypto assets. The introduction of the new program offered by Chainalysis follows U.S. law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice and the U.S. Mashal Service asking for help storing seized cryptocurrencies. During the Silk Road auctions years ago, the U.S. Marshals were in charge of storing and auctioning the cache of bitcoins confiscated. However, in April 2020, both agencies published a request for the “storage, maintenance, and disposal of seized/forfeited virtual currency.” What do you think about Chainalysis and the recent program to store and sell seized crypto assets? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Chainalysis Launches Program to Store and Sell Seized Crypto Assets for Governments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Payment processing giant Paypal announced on Thursday that “all eligible Paypal account holders in the U.S. can now buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrency directly with Paypal.” The news follows the company’s announcement to support crypto assets at the end of October. Paypal’s New Relationship With Crypto Assets On October 21, 2020, the payment firm Paypal announced that it would soon support bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), bitcoin cash (BCH), and litecoin (LTC). The company said the Paypal customers would be able to buy, sell, and hold the virtual assets. On November 2, 2020, Paypal CEO Dan Schulman discussed the company’s cryptocurrency support during an earnings call. Schulman revealed plans for Venmo support and increased crypto-asset purchasing limits to $15k. A number of digital asset proponents tweeted about Paypal starting crypto services on Thursday afternoon. Paypal’s initial statements also detailed that in early 2021, customers would be able to use crypto assets with its 26 million merchant network. After the original Paypal announcement, a number of crypto proponents criticized the company for not allowing the transfer of digital assets to external wallets. “You currently are not able to send crypto assets to family or friends, use crypto assets to pay for goods or services, or withdraw crypto assets from your cryptocurrencies hub to an external cryptocurrency wallet,” Paypal’s service terms note. Paypal’s service terms also stress: “Buying and selling crypto assets is inherently risky” and crypto assets are “not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).” Paypal Opens the Gates The topic of Paypal’s entry into the crypto asset space started again on Thursday when a number of U.S.-based customers found out the waitlist is over. “We are pleased to announce that all eligible Paypal account holders in the U.S. can now buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly with Paypal,” the company announced on Thursday, November 12, 2020. Hundreds of millions of active #PayPal accounts in the United States just woke up to this #bitcoin message! pic.twitter.com/NY9VALS2In — Altcoin Daily (@AltcoinDailyio) November 12, 2020 After Paypal CEO Dan Schulman revealed the increased purchasing limits to $15k last week, on Thursday the company raised the limit again to $20,000. “Due to initial demand from our customers, we’ve also increased our weekly cryptocurrency purchase limit from $10K/week to $20K/week,” Paypal said. A number of Twitter users tweeted about receiving a message from Paypal on Thursday morning that said Paypal’s crypto services were now available to all U.S. customers. What do you think of Paypal’s entry into crypto space? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Paypal Opens Crypto Services to Millions of Eligible Account Holders in the US appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Thursday, November 12, 2020, the blockchain firm Kirobo launched a tool that allows users to reverse ethereum transactions. Similarly to the replace-by-fee (RBF) protocol leveraged by bitcoin users, ethereum transactions can be reversed as well with Kirobo’s “Undo Button” supported by Metamask or any wallet that supports walletconnect. The two top blockchain assets, in terms of market capitalization, have features that allow users to reverse transactions they sent if the fee was too low or for other reasons. For years now crypto proponents using the Bitcoin (BTC) network have been able to use the replace-by-fee (RBF) protocol, which essentially allows them to double-spend bitcoin transactions with a higher fee. For instance with the new Electrum wallet release 4.0.4, “users can cancel (double-spend) unconfirmed transactions using RBF,” developers note. Ever since the inception of Bitcoin and the following introduction of RBF a few years later, replace-by-fee or double-spends have always been controversial. For example, the transaction replacement concept has allowed for massive theft in certain instances and many crypto supporters consider RBF a glaring vulnerability. Kirobo launched the Undo Button tool on Thursday, November 12, 2020. Despite the concerns, RBF remains and on November 12, the startup Kirobo has just introduced a mechanism that allows people to reverse ETH transactions. “Retrievable Transfer will be available to Ethereum users from Thursday, November 12,” Kirobo detailed in the announcement. “Initially, the service will be available for ETH and later on all ERC20 tokens, as well as offering protection against sending funds to smart contracts that don’t support deposits. Available to all Metamask and walletconnect owners, Kirobo’s unique undo feature means that individuals can reclaim funds mistakenly sent to the wrong address.” Kirobo’s announcement adds: The process for Ethereum is identical to that used in Bitcoin transactions. When dispatching digital assets, a password is entered by the sender. Funds are then released only when the recipient enters this same password. If the password is not entered, the sender can retrieve their assets at their convenience. “The use of our logic layer finally eliminates the need to send a test transaction, sharply reducing the level of anxiety users feel when transferring funds to a third party,” Kirobo CEO Asaf Naim explained. Naim also detailed that the company’s Bitcoin version of the “Undo Button” has been “hugely popular in recent months.” Bitcoin and Ethereum transaction fees have skyrocketed during the last few months as well. Additionally, Naim said that Kirobo’s tool will also be supported by Trezor and Ledger in the near future. The Ethereum version also includes protection against Man-in-the-middle attacks Kirobo revealed as well. The Tel Aviv-based startup says that both bitcoin and ethereum transactions have increased a great deal in recent times. Kirobo thinks that human error will be inevitable and the Undo Buttons will be beneficial to bitcoin and ethereum users. What do you think about the Undo Button that allows someone to reverse an Ethereum transaction? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post The ‘Undo Button’ Wallet Tool Gives Users the Ability to Reverse Ethereum Transactions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A blockchain and technology company claims its new bitcoin mining pool is embedded with tools that enable the pool to censure transactions in the blocks they mine. According to a statement issued by the DMG, the parent company to Blockseer mining pool, this ability allows the latter to “exceed” the compliance requirements of the U.S. Government’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The mining pool’s ability to filter or censor transactions means “high-risk wallets will not be included in Blockseer’s posted blocks.” Detailing the company’s breakthrough, DMG, in a statement, says “all users of Blockseer’s pool are required to pass Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols.” The statement adds: Blocks posted to the Bitcoin blockchain by Blockseer’s pool will only contain filtered transactions using Blockseer and Walletscore’s labelling data, along with verified sources such as the United States OFAC blacklist for crypto. Furthermore, DMG claims that Blockseer’s pool “may further decentralize the bitcoin blockchain, readjusting the balance of hash rate to North America, where more Bitcoin nodes operate.” However, others see Blockseer’s new mining pool, which is the culmination of a two-year effort by DMG, as a threat to bitcoin. Bitcoin transactions are censorship-resistant, while its blockchain network is decentralized. Therefore, when centralized entities retain the right to reject certain transactions, this does not bode very for bitcoin’s future. Others fear that if Blockseer’s new mining pool proves to be successful, most miners will be forced to enable the same transaction filtering in the future. At the time of publication, Blockseer’s pool is not represented among the 15 mining pools pointing hash at the BTC chain. What are your thoughts on Blockseer’s claims that it can censor bitcoin transactions? Share your views in the comments section below. The post A New Bitcoin Mining Pool Claims It Has Tools to Censor Blockchain Transactions appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Digital currency markets have seen some decent gains this week, as the overall market valuation of all 7,000+ crypto assets is hovering above the $446 billion mark. Traders also watched the price of bitcoin jump above the $16k zone on Thursday for the first time since 2018. Bitcoin and a number of other crypto-assets have been climbing northbound in price on Thursday, November 12, 2020. At the time of publication, the entire crypto-economy is up over 2% and valued at $446 billion today. During the early morning trading sessions on Thursday, bitcoin (BTC) touched a high of $16,177 on Bitstamp. The last time the price of bitcoin was in this range was on January 6, 2018. BTC’s price has retracted since it touched the 2020 price high. BTC/USD chart on Bitstamp shows BTC touched a high of $16,177 during the early morning trading sessions. Crypto analyst Willy Woo detailed on November 11, that Bitcoin’s relative strength index (RSI) is starting to warm up. While showing a chart on Twitter, Woo tweeted: “Green circle denotes where we are in this macro-cycle. Start of the main bull run (in case it isn’t already obvious). BTC’s on-chain Relative Strength Index is just warming up. Red verticals are the halvenings, providing the bullish supply shock impulse.” Chart by @Woonomic. Bitcoin (BTC) is up more than 80.98% year-to-date against the U.S. dollar and during the last 90 days, the asset is up 35% against USD. 30-day charts show BTC has gained more than 39% during the last four weeks as well. Some traders believe the second round of Covid-19 outbreaks may push the price toward retracement. The crypto trader @Chase_nl explained his prediction to his 18,000 Twitter followers on November 11. “As euphoria sweeps CT (crypto Twitter), Covid’s second wave is sweeping the world,” Chase tweeted. “Will Fed intervention keep everything afloat? Probably. But pandemic + weekly resistance = reduce risk for me. As said, I sold off some spot bitcoin at $15750. Today, some ETH at $472,” the trader added. In a Messari research note, the firm shows that bitcoin (BTC) has outperformed gold, stocks, cash, and bonds this year as far as risk-adjusted returns are concerned. Messari leveraged the “Bitcoin Sharpe Ratio,” in order to inspect the crypto asset’s performance. If BTC consolidates above the $16k handle some traders expect a “real crash” after that point in time. “Alright, the new gameplan is we’re going to perform an elaborate upwards chop that rekts ltf traders,” the crypto trader @Lomahcrypto explained on Twitter. “Push it past the general consensus bullish target say.. $16,400-16,700, then we have our first real crash that reminds everyone of the destructive nature of BTC even in a bull market.” At the time of publication, bitcoin (BTC) is still attempting to surpass the $16k region again and is trading in the range of $15,750 to $15,950 during the last two hours. Ethereum (ETH) is swapping for $461 per unit, while bitcoin cash (BCH) is trading for $257 at the time of writing. The BCH community is expecting a fork in three days’ time on November 15, 2020. At 9:05 a.m. (EST), the price of Bitcoin (BTC) jumped over the $16k handle again and the crypto asset is currently trading for $16,070 per unit. What do you think about the current crypto market action on Thursday? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Market Update: Bitcoin Spikes Over $16K, RSI Levels Warm Up, Price Retracts for Another Attempt appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. The adoption of crypto is not possible without accelerating its usage as a currency, and not only as an asset. While e-commerce giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Walmart aren’t able to offer crypto-payment, Shopping.io launches a gateway to make purchases from the aforementioned sites with cryptocurrencies directly. Online one-step-shop experience with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and your favorite coins Shopping.io allows users to search, shop, and pay for goods from the major e-commerce website in one place! There’s no more need to create accounts on multiple sites and convert digital assets into fiat money to be able to spend crypto. The simplified registration process on shopping.io requires only an email ID and a password. The platform then takes a user straight to their personal dashboard where he or she can place and track orders from Amazon, eBay, and Walmart via crypto assets. Shopping.io has a time-limited offer for its first users to register for a FREE account. This account carries currently a 10% discount on every item while eliminating any miscellaneous charges such as shipping charges, sales tax, etc. It is important to note that the shipping is free and available within the United States only. The crypto payment for the purchased goods is conducted via CoinPayments.net, where users have the option of using over 100 digital assets to complete their transactions. The process is done just like that, as Shopping.io keeps the experience convenient and easy. Upcoming Features and Updates on Shopping.io While a flat 10% discount is an attractive offer for the free account registrants, this is a limited offer. The company is planning to change the discount system and open other types of accounts in the near future. According to the website, there will be Starter and Pro accounts where users will be getting between 5% and 10% discount respectively. Free shipping within the US will be accessible for all users. By the end of 2020, the company will start a loyalty program on a membership basis. The membership can be acquired through the token distribution. The future Token Holder would be eligible for a flat 15% discount on the platform, and for an international shipping service, once the overseas delivery is established. The cost will be calculated based on the weight and dimensions of an ordered item. Additionally, the purchased items will reach the designated addresses in the United States within 2 days only. The refund/return policy follows a standard 30 days limit from the day of receiving the shipped product. Shopping.io is focusing not only on covering many geographical territories, but also the most popular e-commerce websites with an upcoming integration of AliExpress products. For more information, please visit the official website. Twitter Facebook Instagram Telegram Press Contact Email Address as@moderntoken.com Supporting Link https://shopping.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. The post Shopping.io Enables Crypto-Payments on Popular E-Commerce Websites appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Reports say the Venezuelan state electricity company Corpoelec is disconnecting bitcoin mining farms in Carabobo state on orders from authorities. The power disconnections come amid reports that government and Corpoelec officials are planning to meet mining farm operators. According to one report that quotes an anonymous source, the objective of this meeting is to discuss the process of connecting miners to the National Electric System (SEN) as well as “the rate to be paid.” Furthermore, the report quotes the anonymous source saying Corpoelec officials “were shutting down and disconnecting the mines in Carabobo.” The source suggests that all miners in Carabobo had been disconnected. However, it is not clear if Corpoelec officials are only targeting bitcoin mining operators that do not have authorisation from the government. In September, Venezuela announced the creation of a national cryptocurrency mining pool and decreed that all crypto mining farms be registered. According to the decree which took effect after September 21, all miners operating outside the pool would be subjected “to the measures, infractions, and sanctions as set forth in the decree document.” Can Venezuela succeed in forcing miners to join national mining pool? Share your views in the comments section. The post Venezuelan State Electricity Company Reportedly Cuts Power To Crypto Miners appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On November 9, a writer from the website samczsun.com published a report that shows a number of issues with price oracle manipulation stemming from a few blockchain applications. The researcher notes that price oracle manipulation has resulted in “over $30 [million] in losses so far.” According to the researcher from samczsun.com there’s been a substantial amount of price oracle manipulation in 2020. On Monday, he tweeted: “Price oracle manipulation has resulted in over 30MM of losses so far and it shows no signs of slowing.” The tweet was also retweeted by the ethereum.org Twitter handle’s 500k followers. The tweet from @samczsun also leads to a blog post written on the researcher’s web portal called: “So you want to use a price oracle.” In the article, he explains that during the end of 2019 he published a post called “Taking undercollateralized loans for fun and for profit” and the post explained how he could attack ETH-based decentralized applications (dapps). The dapps he wrote about specifically rely on price oracle data for a number of crypto assets. “It’s currently late 2020 and unfortunately numerous projects have since made very similar mistakes,” samczsun.com’s post stresses. “With the most recent example being the Harvest Finance hack which resulted in a collective loss of 33MM USD for protocol users.” Basically an oracle is a protocol that can record both onchain and off-chain data and submits the data into a blockchain like Ethereum. These oracles are used in smart contracts, automated market makers (AMM), trading platforms, and one of the popular ETH-based oracles is Chainlink. The report on vulnerabilities says that developers are aware of some of the issues tethered to oracles but “price oracle manipulation is clearly not something that is often considered.” The blog post adds: Conversely, exploits based on reentrancy have fallen over the years while exploits based on price oracle manipulation are now on the rise. The blog post however isn’t just criticisms and samczsun.com’s editorial features an introduction to oracles, oracle manipulation, and how to mitigate against exploitation. Further, the post discusses six vulnerabilities that have taken place in the past. For example, the post mentions undercollateralized loans, the Synthetix sKRW oracle malfunction, the yVault bug, Synthetix MKR manipulation, the Harvest Finance hack, and the Bzx hack as well. An illustration of the Synthetix MKR manipulation. Photo via Samczsun.com. Samczsun.com’s research also summarizes the Harvest Finance issues that took place on October 26, 2020. “The attacker deflated the price of USDC in the Curve pool by performing a trade, entered the Harvest pool at the reduced price,” the findings state. “[The attacker] restored the price by reversing the earlier trade, and exited the Harvest pool at a higher price. This resulted in over 33MM USD of losses.” The report concludes that “price oracles are a critical, but often overlooked, component of defi security.” The article highlights that there are plenty of ways that dapps can shoot themselves in the foot if they overlook some of these problems. “Reading price information during the middle of a transaction may be unsafe and could result in catastrophic financial damage,” the research post says. What do you think about the millions lost from blockchain-based price oracles so far? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Report: Blockchain Price Oracle Manipulation Produces Millions in Losses, Shows No Signs of Slowing appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. Carbon is a social crypto hub, slated to launch in January. It will bring your day-to-day crypto experience into one awesome place, while rewarding you at the same time. Fully encrypted data that’s as decentralised as you want it to be. Carbon includes features such as a Twitter-style social feed and profiles, an encrypted password vault, notepad and encrypted, decentralised direct messenger as well as crypto team tools such as integrated airdrop system. The highly experienced founders of Carbon have previously led multiple successful projects from token sale through to product launch. Carbon is the latest, and potentially greatest of them all. “We wanted to bring all of your favourite crypto services and experiences into one place, using nothing more than MetaMask to access your account. We’re making communications as secure as Bitcoin is. The interest we have received has been unprecendented and we’re very excited to build and launch the product.” says Carbon co-founder Daniel Abela. The Carbon token sale is open now, running through the secure, risk-free DistX platform at sale.distx.io/carbon It may be sold out by the time you read this. Press Contact Email Address hello@crbn.io Supporting Link https://crbn.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. The post The Carbon Project Presale Opens to the Public appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

During the last few months following the departure of the infamous Empire darknet market (DNM), a great number of DNM users have been flocking to alternative vendors. More recently, a new bot service on Telegram called Televend has been attracting tens of thousands of users and the service has grown colossal since it was first introduced. Meanwhile, law enforcement from Germany recently seized nine Telegram groups operating in the same manner. The demise of the darknet marketplace Empire has seen a wave of DNM users flocking to alternative DNMs, but also newly created Telegram channels that offer illegal wares 24 hours a day. For instance, back in mid-October news.Bitcoin.com reported on a new complex system of robot drug dealing Telegram channels called “Televend.” Since our initial report on the subject, the Televend system is still very active and has grown gigantically since then. One of Televend group chat rooms with active users and vendors discussing LSD and gel tabs. For example, one of the Televend channels called “Buy Drugs” has 155,201 subscribers at the time of publication. Other branches of Televend groups have doubled and quadrupled in size since our last report. “Televend is an auto-shop bot network for direct dealers,” the software’s creators detail. “We administer the bots and vendors run them like private shops. Customers can visit them and pay with bitcoin, track orders and payments plus leave feedback/ratings.” In the Televend Shop Reviews channel, customers can check out a wide range of drugs from specific vendors alongside reviews of the vendor’s product and processing. Televend vendors control their own listings and users need to locate a trusted vendor to access a specific bot. Drug vendors operate the “listings and configuration of their bot via a .onion Tor based control panel so no Telegram account is needed to vend.” From behind the control panel, vendors can answer messages from customers, process orders, and access other features. Today the Televend “Group Chat” has over 15,000 users discussing vendors, drugs, and news stories. The channel dubbed ‘Buy Drugs’ has 155,035 subscribers on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. At 10:23 a.m. (EST) on Wednesday morning, one user wrote: “Can anyone recommend a verified bot selling decent MDMA please?” A number of other users throughout the backlog of chat messages show many people have asked the same question when looking for a reliable Televend vendor. A number of other users usually respond to the questions and they often refer a vendor that they trust. There are also many random vendors advertising wares like cannabis, opium, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, and a colorful assortment of pharmaceuticals as well. Meanwhile, at the end of October, German law enforcement announced the seizure of nine Telegram channels that operate in a similar manner. A translated report from darknetlive.com shows the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT), the General Public Prosecutor’s Office in Frankfurt and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) participated in the seizure. At the end of October, German law enforcement officials announced seizing nine Telegram-based drug groups with 8,000 users. The BKA called the illicit Telegram channels “alternatives to the darknet,” according to the official’s announcement. The General Public Prosecutor’s Office disclosed that the investigations into these Telegram groups started this past summer during the month of June 2020. Prosecutors identified 28 vendors and on October 29, the German task force teams raided 30 different properties throughout Germany as well. German police confiscated a stash of euros and a few kilos of drugs from some of the Telegram drug dealers. Law enforcement confiscated over four kilos of different types of drugs and around 8,000 euros in cash. The report also details that only two suspects were arrested from the Offenbach District so far. In addition to announcing the confiscations, German police revealed that nine Telegram channels were shut down. Interestingly, one of the groups was called the “Silk Road” and the other marketplace channels also had unique names. The translated report also shows that the Telegram channels had roughly 8,000 users before they were seized. On Twitter, the darknet market researcher and analyst called ‘Darkfail’ discussed the Telegram group seizure, and noted that he doesn’t think they were Televend related. “‘Silk Road’ Telegram groups seized by German authorities. These do not appear to have been powered by Televend, an emerging alternative to Tor crypto markets,” Darkfail tweeted. What do you think about Televend’s massive growth and the recent Telegram channel seizures in Germany? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Televend’s Complex System of Telegram Drug Bots Swell as German Police Seize 9 Telegram Drug Channels appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Kucoin chief executive officer Johnny Lyu revealed Wednesday that the exchange recovered 84%, or $235 million, of the $280 million stolen in one of crypto industry’s biggest hacks in September. In a tweet, Lyu said the affected funds have been recovered “via approaches like on-chain tracking, contract upgrade and judicial recovery. As asked by the law enforcements, we will publish all the details once the case is closed.” The Kucoin co-founder stated that the exchange has resumed trading for 176 tokens and the rest will be re-opened before November 22. Hackers made off with $30 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) when they ransacked the exchange on Sept. 25. They also plundered $147 million worth of multiple ERC-20 tokens as well as $87 million in stellar tokens. It wasn’t long before Bitfinex froze $13 million USDT on EOS as part of the hack and Tether froze $20 million USDT sitting in the hacker’s ethereum address. Within days, $160 million had been recovered through various strategies from multiple platforms. However, by the end of September, the cyber-thieves had managed to cash out tokens worth nearly $13 million, which were laundered via decentralized protocols. Seven days ago, the hackers became active again, using mixers to move ERC-20 tokens to another ethereum address. What do you think about the Kucoin funds recovery? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Kucoin Recovers 84% of Funds Stolen in $280 Million Hack appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Hackers have stolen $100 million from decentralized finance (Defi) projects so far this year, according to a new report. Defi accounted for 50% of all hacks and thefts in the second half of the year. Defi Hacks on the Rise A new report by cryptocurrency forensics and blockchain threat intelligence firm Ciphertrace shows that $100 million have been stolen from decentralized finance (Defi) this year. The company detailed on Monday: In first six months of 2020, 45% of all thefts were Defi hacks, equating to about $51.5M — 40% of hacked volume for that time period. So far, in second half of 2020, Defi has dominated 50% of all thefts, equally roughly $47.7M — 14% of hacked volume for this time period. The report explains that the low volume percentage in the second half of the year is due to the large Kucoin exchange hack of $281 million which occurred in October. Excluding the Kucoin incident, Defi amounted to more than 50% of the total theft and hack volume during the time period. “Despite Kucoin being a centralized exchange, even this hack had been touched by Defi as the criminals attempted to launder the stolen funds through one of the largest decentralized exchanges in the world — Uniswap,” the report adds. So far, the total of Defi protocol and exchange hacks amounted to about 21% of the total hack and theft volume. By comparison, the Defi hack volume was nearly negligible in 2019. The report elaborates: The USD value locked in Defi has grown exponentially in 2020 thus creating potential new money laundering risks as hacked Defi protocols make up the majority of crypto thefts in 2020 and decentralized exchanges were the ramp of choice for 2020’s Kucoin hack. “This boom is ultimately what attracted criminal hackers to Defi, resulting in the most Defi hacks in a year to date,” the report continues. According to Defi Pulse, the total value locked in Defi is currently $13.42 billion, which is an increase of almost 700% since the beginning of the year. Uniswap leads the pack, followed by Maker, Wbtc, Compound, Aave, and Curve Finance. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other global regulators are beginning to pay closer attention to Defi. “The EU has introduced Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), a proposed regulation which, if passed, will ban decentralized exchanges from trading with any European Union citizens if they are not incorporated as a legal entity and have their registered office in a Member State,” the report detailed. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) already considers decentralized exchanges in its guidelines and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) applies the same regulatory consideration to DEXs as it does bitcoin ATMs. What do you think about Defi hacks? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Hackers Have Stolen $100 Million From Defi Projects This Year appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

PRESS RELEASE. TALLINN, Estonia, Nov. 10, 2020 – Leading cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT has launched WhiteSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum that gives control to the community. WhiteSwap aims to improve upon Uniswap V2 by giving 87% of governance tokens to the community, publishing a public vesting schedule for team and advisor tokens, and planning a cross-chain solution. Access the WhiteSwap DEX here: https://ws.exchange/ “The DeFi (DEX) market has two weaknesses: the first one is that projects are not truly decentralized, and the second one is that there are very few decent smart contract developers on this planet. WhiteSwap aims to fix this: we’re completely decentralized. Our talents have proven their worth as developers in the cryptocurrency market for the last 5 years.” – Vladimir Nosov, WhiteBIT CEO How is WhiteSwap Different? WhiteSwap is an automated market-making (AMM) decentralized exchange (DEX) currently on the Ethereum blockchain, forked from Uniswap V2. The decentralization of Uniswap V2 has been publicly called into question, especially since Uniswap’s team and investor funds have no lockup or vesting schedule. In contrast to Uniswap, WhiteSwap governance tokens (WSE) are locked on smart contracts and will be released into circulation over time (see the “WSE Token Details” section for allocation and vesting schedule). From the start, WhiteSwap’s smart contract code may be upgraded by a governance vote. To enhance functionality, WhiteSwap is also planning to implement a cross-chain solution (likely via Polkadot) as soon as possible. Governance WSE holders will have immediate ownership of: WhiteSwap governance (implements updates for the protocol functionality) WSE community treasury The protocol fee switch WhiteSwap Default Tokens List Initial governance parameters are as follows: 0.5% of WSE total supply (delegated) to submit a governance proposal 4% of WSE supply required to vote ’yes’ to reach quorum 7 day voting period 2 day timelock delay on execution WhiteSwap Governance Discourse Portal: https://gov.ws.exchange/ WhiteSwap Governance Voting Portal: https://ws.exchange/vote WSE Token Details WSE token contract address: 0x97a527283C6C6E6b9D82fdC720496B8873EC86a0 1 billion WSE have been minted at genesis and will become accessible over the course of four years. A perpetual inflation rate of 2% per year will start after four years, ensuring continued participation and contribution to WhiteSwap. The initial four-year allocation is as follows: 87% to WhiteSwap community members: 870,000,000 WSE 10% to team members with four-year vesting: 100,000,000 WSE 3% to advisors with four-year vesting: 30,000,000 WSE Team and advisor tokens are subject to vesting, according to the following vesting schedule: Team Funds Allocation (Year – Funds Allocation – Distribution %) Year 1 – 50,000,000 WSE – 50% Year 2 – 16,666,667 WSE – 16.67% Year 3 – 16,666,667 WSE – 16.67% Year 4 – 16,666,667 WSE – 16.67% Advisor Funds Allocation (Year – Funds Allocation – Distribution %) Year 1 – 7,500,000 WSE – 25% Year 2 – 7,500,000 WSE – 25% Year 3 – 7,500,000 WSE – 25% Year 4 – 7,500,000 WSE – 25% WSE Community Treasury WSE will vest to the governance treasury on a continuous basis according to the following schedule. (Year – Community Treasury – Distribution %) Year 1 – 348,000,000 WSE – 40% Year 2 – 261,000,000 WSE – 30% Year 3 – 174,000,000 WSE – 20% Year 4 – 87,000,000 WSE – 10% An initial liquidity mining phase begins on November 10, 2020, 10:00am UTC. The initial phase will run until January 10, 2020, 10:00am UTC, allocating 45,000,000 WSE and targeting nine trading pools. The remainder of community treasury tokens will be allocated based on governance proposals approved by voting. About WhiteBIT WhiteBIT is a centralized crypto-to-fiat exchange with a team of 80+ members. At the date of this publication, WhiteBIT has 300K+ users in Europe, Asia, and the CIS countries and such partners as Dash, Tron, Matic, and others. WhiteBIT’s top priority is safety. It supports 160+ trading pairs with crypto and fiat with one of the lowest trading fees in the industry. Social Links: WhiteSwap News WhiteSwap Chat WhiteSwap Twitter WhiteBIT Facebook Media contact: contact@ws.exchange 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. The post WhiteBIT launches WhiteSwap DEX appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

According to a number of third party infrastructure providers, the Ethereum blockchain suffered an unintended hard fork or chain split on Wednesday. The service providers Infura, Binance, and Blockchair all reported issues with consensus at block height 11,234,873. The cryptocurrency community has been discussing an unintended chain split that took place on the Ethereum blockchain on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. Three major third-party service providers Infra, Binance, and Blockchair all reported on the issues with Ethereum at around 5 a.m. (EST). A number of cryptocurrency community members and Ethereum supporters complained about network issues on Wednesday morning. The issue seems to be minor and resolving at the time of writing. “There was a possible ETH chain split at block 11234873,” tweeted Changpeng Zhao (CZ) the CEO of Binance. “Etherscan and Blockchair are showing two different chains and data after this block. We’re resolving now but have temporarily closed withdrawals. Funds are SAFU,” the exchange operator added. Blockchair CEO Nikita Zhavoronkov also tweeted about the incident in a thread that explained the situation with Ethereum. “At some point, Ethereum developers introduced a change in the code that led today to a chain split starting from block 11234873 (07:08 UTC),” Zhavoronkov said. “Those who haven’t upgraded (Blockchair, Infura, some miners, and many others) got stuck on a minority chain (~30 blocks in 2 hours). Technically, that was an unannounced hard fork,” he added. Ethereum-dependent services are facing outages following the recent chain split. ETH withdrawals from Nash trading channels are currently failing, but we’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. — Nash (@nashsocial) November 11, 2020 The infrastructure provider Infura also gave details about the incident on the organization’s web portal. “The root cause was traced to several components within our infrastructure which were locked to an older stable version of the go-ethereum client which encountered a critical consensus bug at block 11234873,” Infura noted. “This affected several Geth versions including 1.9.9 and 1.9.13. Components running 1.9.19 and later were unaffected. A full post-mortem will be completed and shared after the incident is resolved.” A number of exchanges including Binance halted withdrawals temporarily. Some users complained about oracle and price feed delays. A number of Ethereum users discussed issues with ETH-based price feeds and ERC20 tokens while using wallets like Metamask. Ethereum Foundation member, Péter Szilágyi responded to Zhavoronkov’s analysis and said: “Technically you are correct that it was an “unannounced hard fork” (from a bad chain to the good one). That said, silently fixing a bug dormant for 2+ years has a much lower chance of causing a disruption than raising awareness to it. We strive to minimize potential damage.” At the time of publication, the price of Ethereum (ETH) is still up over 3% on Wednesday and swapping for $460 per coin. What do you think about the issues the Ethereum network experienced today? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Ethereum Suffers from Unintended ‘Chain Split,’ Few Third-Party Services ‘Got Stuck on Minority Chain’ appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The recent announcement by Pfizer of a potential Covid-19 vaccine sparked an immediate rally of global stocks worst hit by the pandemic response. The rally helped major indices including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Composite Index and Europe’s Stoxx to go up by approximately 4%. Bitcoin’s Decoupling On the other hand, stocks that benefited from lockdown restrictions went down as the vaccine raises hopes for a return to normal life. Still, it appears the same vaccine hopes did not dampen interest in bitcoin, another major beneficiary of lockdown restrictions. In a performance that highlights the digital asset’s decoupling from traditional markets, bitcoin continues to trade above $15,000 some 48 hours after the vaccine announcement. After initially crashing alongside traditional markets earlier in the year, bitcoin staged a quicker recovery as more businesses and individuals explored the possibility of using the crypto for payments. Between March 12–the infamous ‘Black Thursday’–and October 1, bitcoin surged more than 260%, making it one of the best-performing assets in 2020. Meanwhile, a series of announcements by large investors that they are buying bitcoin, starting in early October helped to spark another bitcoin rally. Furthermore, data also shows that the excitement around US Elections may have helped bitcoin to go past the 2018 year high. Vaccine Hopes Drive Markets Yet when Pfizer announced that a vaccine had been found to be more than 90 per cent effective in a late-stage trial, the value bitcoin did not change. Instead, it is traditional stocks that rallied with the NYSE Composite Index going up 500 points from 13,214 points on November 6 to 13,726. An analysis by one publication shows that stocks of US airlines led the rally with 15%, while IAG, the parent to British Airways closed the day with a 25%. Airbus was up 19% on the day while Rolls Royce gained 44%. Other gainers include JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America which advanced more than 13%. In contrast, stocks of companies that are seen as beneficiaries of the pandemic went down. Zoom dropped 17% as did Netflix (7%) while Amazon, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the lockdown restrictions, went down almost 4% on the day. Some of these companies face a reversal of fortunes if and when the Covid-19 vaccine becomes available. Despite benefiting from lockdown measures, the data suggests that bitcoin’s performance is not tied to events that influence traditional markets. As Markets.bitcoin.com data shows, the digital asset dropped marginally from $15,563 on November 6 to $15,152, some 72 hours later. Therefore, bitcoin is exhibiting signs that it belongs to an alternative asset class. The top crypto’s decoupling from traditional markets only makes it more appealing to investors searching for a better store of value. What are your thoughts about bitcoin’s decoupling from traditional markets? Share your views in the comments section below. The post Pfizer’s Pandemic Vaccine News Fails to Dampen Interest in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article