roadrunner

Bitcoin’s Dominance Index has slid 10% from a high of 67% on May 10, to a low of 57% today. Despite the defi market shakeout, ethereum still captures 10% of the aggregate market capitalization of $330 billion. There’s been a number of changes in the top ten line up of coins, as bitcoin (BTC) has been losing dominance since May 10. Market dominance is the measurement of the top coins, in terms of market valuation, compared to the aggregate of all 6,700+ crypto coins. BTC has consistently commanded the top dominance level in the cryptocurrency economy and today it’s about 57% of the market value. That’s 10% lower than it was in mid-May, as bitcoin (BTC) has slid consecutively downwards for the past 118 days. Within the hundred-day time frame, ethereum (ETH) has been the force eating away at BTC’s dominance level. Presently, ETH captures 10% of the crypto economy’s valuation. This is after the intense market-beating ETH and it’s myriad of ERC20 token offspring took on Saturday. In fact, during the beginning of last week (Aug 30), Ethereum dominance touched a 2020 high at 12.9%. Chainlink (LINK) is also in the top ten with a $4.2 billion market cap on Sunday, which is only 1.27% of the aggregate market valuation. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has also seen its dominance percentage drop during the last few weeks. In fact, just before the November 2018 blockchain split that produced bitcoinsv (BSV), BCH has slid from 4.37% to a low of 1.2% on September 6, 2020. The percentage has not been that high since the fork in 2018, and has continued to drop significantly since then. In February 2020, BCH did touch a 2020 dominance percentage high with 2.84% on February 9. Since then, BCH has remained above 1.5% up until this weekend’s market carnage leading to 1.2%. Data shows that the new arrival Polkadot (DOT) has managed to join the top ten and it captures 1.1% of the overall market cap. XRP has 3.4%, Litecoin (LTC) around 1.1%, bitcoinsv (BSV 0.97%), and binance coin (BNB) with 0.91%. The rest of the 6,700+ digital assets in existence capture around 16.9% on Sunday. What do you think about bitcoin’s dominance levels today? Let us know what you think in the comments below. The post Bitcoin Dominance Slides Losing 10% in the Last 100 Days appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Global Macro Investor CEO Raoul Pal has explained why he believes bitcoin is better than gold in every way. He proclaims that bitcoin is “the hardest form of money” and “the best reserve asset and best collateral asset ever seen.” Bitcoin Is ‘the World’s Best Trade’ Macro strategist and former hedge fund manager Raoul Pal shared some analysis from his monthly global macro investment report early this week. The report is exclusively for Global Macro Investor clients. This month’s core focus is on bitcoin, particularly how the cryptocurrency compares to gold. Pal previously co-managed the GLG Global Macro Fund in London after departing Goldman Sachs where he co-managed the hedge fund sales business in Equities and Equity Derivatives in Europe. He retired from managing client money in 2004 at the age of 36 and founded Global Macro Investor and Real Vision Group. “I think its the world’s best trade and of which I’m irresponsibly long,” Pal wrote about bitcoin. He then proceeded to outline Bitcoin’s key features, such as its fixed supply and how its transactions are immutable, distributed, and decentralized, “making it incredibly secure,” the former hedge fund manager detailed, asserting: The honest truth is that it beats gold on every single measure except it just doesn’t have 10,000 years of history. “Something that has a finite fixed supply and is incredibly secure has true value,” Pal emphasized. “The fact that it is divisible, portable, transferable and exchangeable makes it have potentially more value than any other store of wealth, or any other form of money.” In contrast, he pointed out that gold lacks ease of use and transportability in the digital world. “My guess is that bitcoin will trade at rates higher than bonds, not because of credit risk or inflation — bitcoin suffers from neither — but because the value of that collateral is worth more due to its ‘pristineness,'” Pal opined. “Bitcoin is pristine collateral. The greatest form of collateral. Its blockchain ownership structure reduces the huge black swan risk of who owns what. It is all recorded and more importantly, provable.” The strategist also explained that gold was used as collateral but its role has diminished as central banks choose bonds over it. “Gold also is not easy to use because it has to sit in vaults and its ownership needs to be proven and transferable and in the world of re-hypothecation, even central banks have re-lent the gold out so no one knows the owner, unless you own it and store it yourself,” Pal detailed, affirming: In my opinion, bitcoin is the best reserve asset and best collateral asset ever seen. It is the hardest asset ever produced, with an impossible-to-change formula for supply that gives it predictability like no other asset ever. Government bonds, especially U.S. Treasuries, are the current collateral for the world, he continued, adding that the current system is failing due to the action of central banks. “When debt loads became unsustainable, meaning that the weakest borrowers couldn’t get access to enough collateral, instead of the price of collateral rising, thus forcing firms to go bust, central banks began to increase the supply of collateral and reserves (quantitative easing),” he described. The central banks’ action devalues the collateral either abnormally or over time as fiat money’s purchasing power falls. Bitcoin’s value, on the other hand, is protected as central banks cannot create more of it. Therefore, “its value during collateral shortages (recessions) goes up, forcing only the strongest creditors to have access to it and thus allowing the business cycle to work in weeding out the weakest creditors.” Believing that bitcoin solves all of the existing financial system’s collateral problems, Pal concluded that in his view bitcoin will become the more desirable form of collateral, adding that he sees this as the killer application. The macro strategist revealed in a tweet last week that he owns a lot more BTC than gold, and he also owns some ETH. Believing that bitcoin outperforms gold overall, he stated, “Gold can go up 2x or 3x or even 5x while bitcoin can go up 50x or even 100x.” Do you agree with Pal? Let us know in the comments section below. The post ‘Bitcoin Beats Gold on Every Single Measure,’ Says Macro Strategist Raoul Pal appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In 2020 decentralized exchanges (dex) have grown quite mature compared to just a few years ago. One specific dex gathering a lot of steam this year in the defi world is Uniswap, a trading platform that held $1.3 billion locked in value and dominated most defi applications by over 18% Friday evening. The following review is a detailed explainer of what Uniswap is and how to leverage the dex using an Ethereum wallet like Metamask. **Price quotes, TVL, and defi dominance percentages from this Uniswap review were recorded on Friday evening, September 4, 2020. Ethereum Dex Uniswap Shatters Records Decentralized finance (defi) has been all the rage and one feature the economy has amplified is the use of decentralized exchanges. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported on the massive dex trade volumes that have been taking place recently, and this week has been no different. On Friday evening, stats from Dune Analytics indicate that dex platforms have continued to surge in volume with seven-day growth at 178%. During the last week, dex platforms have surpassed $7.1 billion in global swaps and $968 million in the last 24 hours. Dex trade volume recorded on Friday, September 4, 2020. Data via Dune Analytics. The dex protocol Uniswap is the most dominant trading platform. Uniswap eclipses most of the dex contenders with 71.9% of the aggregate dex trade volume globally. Over 91,000 traders were active on Uniswap on Friday evening. Defipulse.com stats show Uniswap also dominated by more than 18% of the defi economy with $1.3 billion total-value locked (TVL) at its height. In recent days, Uniswap’s trading volume outpaced the centralized exchange Coinbase Pro as well. Uniswap captures 71.9% of the aggregate dex volume globally. Dex trade volume recorded on Friday, September 4, 2020. Data via Dune Analytics. Uniswap’s creator Hayden Adams developed the dex after being inspired by an Ethereum Research post written by Vitalik Buterin. Essentially Uniswap is an Ethereum exchange built by leveraging smart contracts and liquidity pools, in contrast to a traditional centralized exchange’s order book. In the past, older crypto dex platforms had liquidity issues, but Uniswap’s liquidity pool model changed the game. The web portal Ethhub.io also offers a comprehensive “Graphical Guide for Understanding Uniswap,” which shows a visual representation of how the app works. With a decent Ethereum wallet, users can simply connect to Uniswap’s application and trustlessly swap ERC20 tokens in an effortless manner. The application allows users to not only swap the coins, but they can also create any type of ERC20 pool or provide an existing pool with liquidity and earn funds. Uniswap allows anyone from anywhere to swap coins in a permissionless fashion without needing an ID or going through a cumbersome KYC process. How to Use Uniswap With Metamask Accessing Uniswap is easy and relatively simple to understand. If one already knows the very basics of leveraging ethereum (ETH) and wallets like Metamask, then Uniswap is fairly intuitive. Essentially the first thing to do is make sure you have an Ethereum wallet and one that can interact with ETH smart contracts. Metamask works well for most defi applications with its Chrome browser extension, but it also launched a new mobile wallet this week. Uniswap needs to be connected with a wallet that can access defi applications. The Metamask wallet is a great choice and the software was just rolled out for mobile this week. After connecting a wallet, Uniswap asks you to choose a “token list,” and in this Uniswap example, we chose the Aave Token List. Uniswap’s two features allow people to either add liquidity to a pool or trade ERC20s for ETH or other ERC20 tokens. So if you want to use the dex, it’s also a good idea to have some ETH-based tokens or just ether deposited into your Metamask wallet. From here simply head over to Uniswap and connect your wallet to the Version 2 (V2) application. Metamask will ask you to accept the permissions in order to tether the wallet to the Uniswap application. Simply confirm with Metamask and you can now see your balance of ETH or tokens in the app’s user interface window. Throughout every action, Metamask makes sure the owner of the funds authorizes all the Uniswap transactions. Users can swap for any ERC20 token. In this example (pictured on the left), 0.120333 ETH is selected to purchase DAI via the Uniswap V2 software. The application tells the user there is a better price for this trade using Uniswap V1 (pictured on the right). Swapping tokens on Uniswap is effortless and trade fees are detailed immediately, the only negative experience with the dex is the excessive Ethereum gas fees. Other issues with Uniswap include failed transactions and fake ERC20 coins. Uniswap transactions can fail if the price of an asset changes within a given period of time. If you choose the “Swap” feature, the application asks you to choose from a list of tokens tethered to applications like Aave or Compound in the V2 software. “Uniswap now supports token lists,” the software will tell you. “You can add your own custom list via IPFS, HTTPS, and ENS.” From here you can “choose a list” like the “Aave Token List” or others like “CMC Defi.” After choosing a list, you can then choose the type of token you want to trade and the token you want to leverage to buy it. If you have ETH in your Metamask wallet simply choose the crypto asset in the “from” section and Uniswap will show the balance. Then you can choose which type of token you want to obtain, as the list of tokens is quite extensive. Uniswap supports any ETH-based token and perusing through the list you will notice popular assets like DAI, WBTC, BAT, USDT, USDC, LEND, MANA, MKR, TUSD, and many more. In the “to” selection, select the token you want and Uniswap will explain the exchange rate. Users can add liquidity to a pool using Uniswap and earn pool shares. With this example, I can earn a liquidity fee for every transaction made in the MANA/ETH market. The larger the liquidity provided, the more liquidity fees from pools you can obtain. **Price quotes from this Uniswap review were recorded on Friday, September 4, 2020. For instance, I had a balance of 0.120333 ETH and selected the stablecoin DAI for my trade. I press “max” (using my entire Metamask balance of ETH) and Uniswap will tell me the price of the trade. Selecting DAI for my 0.120333 ETH ($42 on 9/5/20) will get me 38.3549 DAI and that doesn’t include the network fee to swap. Gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain have been excessively high and a few days ago fees were upwards of $10-15 per transaction. **Price quotes from this Uniswap review were recorded on Friday, September 4, 2020. At the time of writing ETH fees are between 450 to 550 gwei or $3.36 to $4.11 per transaction. Metamask will explain to you how much the gas fee will be when executing the Uniswap trade. Following the network confirmations, the coins purchased will be deposited into your Metamask wallet. With the other feature called “Pool” you can add liquidity to certain pools in the Uniswap ecosystem and earn a percentage of trading fees for supplying funds to the pool. Simply press “add liquidity,” choose a token input and Uniswap will explain the prices pool shares. For instance, if I add an ETH input and 26.86 MANA, Uniswap details the price of ETH per MANA and the pool share which is 0.01%. Of course, those who add massive amounts of liquidity get a much larger pool share of trading fees than those who only add small fractions of funds. Just like most of the defi applications out there today, the very basics of Uniswap’s features are pretty easy to use. However, gas fees at $3-4 per transaction make the experience less pleasant and ETH fees were even higher just a few days ago. Besides the obvious ETH fee issue, Uniswap allows for quick trades in a noncustodial fashion and removes the horrid KYC processes depressing the crypto industry today. This privacy is the most refreshing benefit of the experience. For some more perspective, the video below created by the Youtuber, “Every Bit Helps,” also gives individuals a visual step-by-step on how to leverage the Uniswap protocol. **Price quotes from this Uniswap review were recorded on Friday, September 4, 2020. What do you think about Uniswap? Have you ever tried the dex application? Let us know in the comments section below. The post How to Leverage Uniswap – Ethereum’s Noncustodial Defi Trading Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The anonymous founder of Sushiswap has reportedly exit scammed after converting all of his sushi tokens to ETH on September 5. Reports of the alleged scam came a few days after the sushi token, which forked from the Uniswap protocol, went up in value to $10 in just 24 hours. A Twitter user Spensernoon first made the allegations. However, in a series of seemingly convoluted tweets, Chef Nomi, the self-professed creator of Sushiswap, has denied the allegations. The creator tweeted: People asked if I exit scammed. I did not. I am still here. I will continue to participate in the discussion. I will help with the technical part. I will help ensure we have a successful migration. The Sushiswap creator then compares his actions to what Satoshilite (Charlie Lee creator of Litecoin) did and how “Litecoin had no problem surviving.” Still, Chef Nomi appears to justify his actions insisting he deserved the ETH: “Maybe you don’t think I deserved that ETH? I think my contributions justified that. I wrote the migration code. I did all the audits. I coordinated the largest LP pools ever. I created a large community. I sprung up 100s of LP scam projects. All in one week.” The Sushiswap creator also makes an effort to remind his detractors all the work he has done alone. The creator intimates that the token’s price volatility has created unwanted pressure. “And that is what I do. I created (an) idea. I created (the) community. I did it best when I don’t (sic) have price under pressure. And if you believe in the community. You believe in the idea. You stay. If not, you are free to leave. It is an open experiment. No strings attached,” said the defiant creator. Throughout the rest of the tweets, the founder casts his actions as benign while complaining that “all I received was blaming and FUDing. The sushi token was listed on Binance September 1 and according to reports, the Defi liquidity provision platform had managed to have funds worth $1.2 billion under lock. Still, the token price began to plummet, dropping 60% (in 24 hours) to $1.50 at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the ethereum (ETH) token appeared to take a cue from plummeting defi tokens after dropped 17% to $320 during the same period. The trend also appeared to be the same with many other defi coins like YFI, LEND, and LINK. The Chainlink token LINK similarly dropped by a double-digit figure of 19.7% to $10.19 while the Polkadot token went down by 28% to $3.83. However, the rest of the market appears to have incurred losses averaging 6% or less. Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 during the same period. What do you think of the alleged Sushi exit scam? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Sushiswap Founder Reportedly Exit Scams as Sushi Token Price Tanks appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto banking platform Cashaa has unveiled plans to expand its services in India, the U.S., Africa, and the Caribbean. In India, the company aims to create “the first crypto-friendly banking platform” that is regulated by the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Cashaa’s CEO has shared with news.Bitcoin.com. Cashaa Unveils Expansion Plans London-based crypto-friendly banking platform Cashaa has unveiled its expansion plans, having raised $5 million from Dubai-based blockchain investment and advisory firm O1ex. “As a part of its expansion plans, Cashaa is set to launch its global banking services,” the company announced Wednesday. Cashaa CEO Kumar Gaurav told news.Bitcoin.com: “At the onset, we are looking at fast-maturing markets such as India, which has tremendous potential in terms of not only having a sturdy economic base but a healthy banking and financial ecosystem backed by technology. A market that has the potential of adding 100 million users within the next 2 years.” He noted that in India Cashaa is “already the largest liquidity provider and offshore bankers for most of the major crypto exchanges,” elaborating: We will soon launch our neobank that will enable crypto-friendly banking in India, regulated under the Reserve Bank of India. “This is a bold move and will require a lot of back and forth between the stakeholders,” he continued, adding that his company already provides GBP, EUR, and USD business accounts to customers. With the Indian expansion, INR business accounts will also be available. India’s cryptocurrency market has been growing rapidly ever since the country’s supreme court quashed the RBI circular that banned financial institutions from providing services to crypto businesses. India currently does not have any direct crypto regulations, but there are rumors of the government discussing the bill submitted by the inter-ministerial committee headed by former Finance Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg, which seeks to ban cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. However, the Indian crypto industry firmly believes that this bill is outdated and will not be the one the government introduces. “The Indian government is currently engaging with various stakeholders and trying to work out a solution. India today stands at a juncture, where it can actually embrace the digital currency ecosystem as it is pushing for the digital revolution and is leading the way in the fintech segment,” Gaurav opined. Cashaa will also focus on the U.S. next year, the CEO explained. “We have already started issuing USD accounts regulated by the Banking Division of Colorado to our existing business customers as beta users,” he further shared with news.Bitcoin.com, adding that some crypto clients already using Cashaa’s USD accounts include Nexo, Coindcx, and Unocoin. Besides India and the U.S., Gaurav said, “Africa and the Caribbean islands are in our purview.” Citing that most African nations face political instability and many people have lost faith in their local currencies, he confirmed: We are also going to explore Africa and the Caribbean islands in 2021. “These islands are heavily dependent on markets that trade in USD. Now Cashaa is the right fit to step into these islands and help their banking systems by providing solutions,” the CEO emphasized. Cashaa’s platform currently supports bitcoin, Cashaa’s native token, ethereum, and tether. “Other leading cryptocurrencies such as ripple, litecoin, bitcoin cash, and EOS will be added in 2021,” the company detailed in Wednesday’s announcement. It also claimed that more than 100 crypto companies are already using the beta version of its banking system and over 1,500 crypto companies worldwide are waiting to be onboarded. Furthermore, Cashaa announced that it will use some of the funds raised to cover the losses from the July Delhi hack. What do you think about Cashaa’s expansion plans? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Crypto-Friendly Banking Platform Cashaa Expanding in India, US, Africa appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

If one votes, one participates. If one participates, one condones and endorses the process, and subsequently, what those elected ‘representatives’ do and say in your name. Reason 2. Electoral promises are meaningless because politicians are able to lie to gain the favor of the electorate, and then do exactly what they want once they have it. Then there is no accountability or recourse, other than waiting another four years or so to vote them out and replace them with someone else who will follow the established template and do the exact same thing. **The following essay was written by Robert Rorschach and published on July 26, 2016. “20 Reasons Not to Vote” was originally published on the website notbeinggoverned.com, and is reprinted here on Bitcoin.com for historical preservation. Many cryptocurrency advocates who identify with voluntaryism believe that voting is immoral, and joining the counter-economy is a better method of change. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any opinions, content, accuracy, or quality within the historical editorial.** 3. The act of voting grants legitimacy to the idea that it’s acceptable for the majority/collective to use the coercive arm of the state to impose their will on the minority/individual using force, or threat of force, and for that reason, it is immoral to vote. As such, the only way to truly de-legitimize the system is by not voting. When the people refuse to participate in droves the international community can no longer recognize the results of the election as legitimate. This perceived legitimacy is such a concern for politicians that in some countries it’s now a legal requirement to vote (e.g., Australia). 4. A non-voter emerges from the electoral process with a clean conscience because they can legitimately proclaim that what the elected ‘representatives’ subsequently say and do after they have gained power is not done in their name, not with their permission, and not with their encouragement. 5. To not vote DOES NOT mean one relinquishes the right to then comment on, complain about, or protest the actions of the government, it is completely the other way round. When one votes one effectively makes a contractual agreement (the voter is officially recorded doing so), which hands over the right for someone else to speak and act in their name, and as such, assents to whatever the government does thereafter. A non-voter however, has not done so, and therefore retains the right to complain, object and protest all they want. 6. Participation in the system (i.e., voting) reinforces the idea that people can’t live together without violent control. 7. Participation in the system (i.e., voting) implies that the majority knows what’s best for everyone. 8. Participation in the system (i.e., voting) implies that the majority knows what’s best for the individual. 9. Voting is effectively participating in mob rule, and the mob then enforces it’s views on the rest of society with the threat of violence. 10. By voting, an individual literally advocates the use of force against peaceful people. 11. Voting reinforces the idea the ‘people’ have the power rather than the largely unaccountable bureaucrats who make the rules. 12. Voting is futile because invariably the better-financed candidate wins. 13. Statistically, any one vote makes no more difference than a single grain of sand on a beach. Thinking that their vote counts tends to give the voter a mistakenly inflated sense of self-worth, and participation in a system creates a passive sense of accomplishment. 14. An individual’s ability to make an informed choice is zero if the only information they reference is from the overtly bias mainstream media, government news channels (propaganda), politicians and party manifestos (sales pitch), or from an ‘enforced’ state school education (indoctrination). 15. Voting sends a false signal to the elected politicians that the voter approves of all their policies. Voters, therefore, encourage them. 16. If an individual has not come to a firm conclusion about the election, that individual will do more for their country/community by not voting, rather than making a mistake. 17. If the outcome of a vote is unknown, then voting is tantamount to gambling. If the outcome of a vote is known, then voting is futile. 18. No individual has the authority to make laws their neighbor, or anyone else, must obey. Then how is it morally acceptable for any individual to delegate authority they don’t have to someone else, such as a politician? 19. Should people who know more about game shows, sports, reality TV, and celebrities, rather than matters of any real importance (economics, political philosophy, history, logic, critical thinking, etc) be in a position to vote and influence the lives of others? 20. Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting evil. The 20 reasons not to vote boil down to this: If you are not a Voluntaryist, then by definition you are an Involuntaryist, and as such, personally advocate the initiation of force, or threat of force against people who haven’t threatened or harmed anyone. Therefore, for every person in the world one of these statements is true: 1) “I advocate a society whereby people are free to voluntarily interact with one another.” 2) “I advocate the use of force, or threat of force, against innocent people, in order to make them comply with my opinions and preferences.” If the first statement refers to you, then DON’T VOTE. If you are interested in learning about the many methods of voluntaryism, crypto anarchy, and the myriad of ways to opt-out and vacate the state – Check out these essays below. No Treason by Lysander Spooner The Most Dangerous Superstition by Larken Rose The John Galt Speech by Ayn Rand Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto An Agorist Primer by Samuel Edward Konkin III The many writings hosted at Zerogov.com Vices Are Not Crimes by Lysander Spooner Economics In One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt Man Economy and State by Murray Rothbard Universally Preferable Behavior – A Rational Proof of Secular Ethics by Stefan Molyneux The Fundamentals of Voluntaryism Everything Voluntary The Jones Plantation by Larken Rose The Free Market: What it is – What it Implies by Tom Rose The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto by Tim May What do you think about the 20 reasons not to vote for the political class? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post Robert Rorschach: 20 Reasons Not to Vote appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Growing Ethereum network transaction fees, which touched new highs recently, are a direct consequence of the increasing number of defi projects and yield farming. Yield farmers need to pay ETH for transactions like moving funds in and out of pools. The increased number of yield farmers leads to more transactions and slower confirmations making higher fees inevitable. Such high fees are now threatening the viability of some smart contracts and decentralized finance (defi) applications. According to a newsletter produced by Boxmining, the defi boom, like the ICO bubble of 2017, has helped to spark competition between different protocols. The newsletter singles out one project, Sushiswap, which is only about one week old, yet it is believed to be behind “the spike in average transaction fees on September 1, 2020.” As of September 2, the average transaction fee on the network was USD$15.13. Sushiswap, which is “a fork from Uniswap” already had “$1.2 billion on funds under lock” after just five days. In addition, it is already “hugely popular in China where it is dubbed ‘Uniswap’s biggest rival.'” It is this kind of rivalry between different Defi protocols that is causing a “gas war.” In the meantime, the higher fees might be good news to ether miners still, they are raising concerns “about the sustainability of the network.” As the newsletter goes on to suggest that “many are saying that the high transaction fees mean that they are ‘priced out’ of activities on defi platforms.” The newsletter opines that higher fees “may even mean that some smart contracts become virtually unusable, thereby bringing the question of Ethereum being a smart contract platform in the first place into question.” Already, some organizations have been forced to suspend transactions as they wait for the gas fees to return to normal levels. For instance, on September 1, Publish0x, a platform that tips its contributing writers with ETH based tokens, announced the “payouts delay due to extremely high ETH gas fees.” The publisher explains how the fees have grown and how this is affecting business: “When we first started Publish0x, gas prices were 6 gwei. It cost us $10-20 to pay out 2000 people. Today gas prices hit an all-time high of over 460 gwei, nearly 100x the cost. We’re looking at $2,000+ cost for a payout at current gas prices. This is obviously not economically viable.” Just like others similarly affected, Publish0x says it is open to the possibility of using non-ETH based tokens for tipping in the future. Meanwhile, the Boxmining newsletter suggests that the “answer to this can be Ethereum 2.0, but its mainnet launch is months away.” In his recent comments about the levels of gas fees, Vitalik Buterin suggests the second layer solution will overcome the high fee challenge. What are your thoughts about the impact of Defi projects on ETH gas fees? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Defi Boom Fueling ETH Gas Fees, Threatens Viability of Smart Contracts appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A South African man has been charged with fraud in the Maryland District Court for allegedly scamming $28 million from over 1,000 investors. Dennis Jali, a former resident of Maryland, targeted church-going African immigrants, promising them guaranteed returns on his supposed bitcoin (BTC) and foreign currency investment pool. In a press statement, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said it jointly charged Jali and two accomplices for orchestrating the “Ponzi scheme”. Arley Ray Johnson and John Frimpong, both of Maryland, fraudently solicited money from investors, who contributed $28 million to three companies – 1st Million LLC, Smart Partners LLC, and Access to Assets LLC, it said. The duo compelled participants to trade in BTC and forex through pooled trading accounts controlled by Jali, added the statement. The alleged scheme operated from 2017 to 2020, drawing in more than 1,000 investors. Investors were led to sign “secure contracts” that promised guaranteed returns of up to 30% per month. The conspirators allegedly told investors that their funds would be fully restored at the end of the pool participation term. Johnson and Frimpong also touted Jali as a brilliant career trader who had made 1,700% in returns in a previous investment fund. The South African claimed in his online promotional videos that he had returned over 400% in gains within six weeks and that “my wife has never worked a day in her life.” However, the trio did not invest any of the money in bitcoin or foreign currency, according to the CFTC charge. Instead, they turned the scheme into a Ponzi, using $18 million to pay selected investors, creating the illusion of profitability. Jali and his co-conspirators allegedly used $7 million of the pool money to buy luxury cars and fund other expensive lifestyles. The CFTC charge is seeking full restitution to defrauded investors, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, civil monetary penalties and permanent trading bans for the three. The SEC also named Access to Assets as a relief defendant, “seeking the return of proceeds of the alleged fraud to which it had no legitimate claim.” Jali fled the United States in May 2019 after being indicted by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland but has since been arrested in South Africa, on federal charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. What do you think about Dennis Jali’s alleged Ponzi scheme? Let us know in the comments section below. The post South African Man Charged in U.S. Court for Fraud Involving $28 Million in Bitcoin and Forex appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Billionaire and venture capitalist Tim Draper has praised bitcoin cash after recently purchasing the coin. Lauding the ease of use as well as buying it, Draper encourages his followers to do likewise. Draper’s endorsement comes as the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) community braces for a fork instigated by Bitcoin ABC’s infrastructure funding proposal (IFP). Yet despite the ongoing split reports, Tim Draper, the crypto supporting billionaire, still praises BCH and gives thanks to Roger Ver “for this innovation.” Although Draper’s tweet does not provide specific reasons for the praise, it would appear his comments have been made within the context of the high network fees and slow confirmations time currently plaguing other networks. So far, bitcoin cash (BCH) seems to be unaffected by the current challenges facing the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) networks— the unsustainably high transaction fees and slower confirmation times. It is precisely these attributes that appear to be propelling the increased use of BCH in crypto-friendly countries like Nigeria. BCH fees remain less than $0.01 at a time when bitcoin and ether are both north of $8 for the same value transaction. It is for this reason that some crypto platforms like Yellow Card, an exchange platform used by Nigerians for converting crypto bitcoin to local currency, says it is actively looking into adding BCH. Cryptocurrencies have been gaining traction in the international remittances space because they fast and much cheaper than traditional sending channels. However, of late, the current high transaction fees and slower confirmation speeds are hurting the appeal of digital currencies like bitcoin and ether. Africa crypto users have shown a fondness for digital assets that bring real advantages over conventional assets and so far, BCH is crypto that appears to be doing just that. What do you think of Draper’s endorsement of bitcoin cash? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Tim Draper Heaps Praise on Bitcoin Cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In mid-August the U.S. stock market defied odds and mainstream media claimed after the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index touched new heights on August 18, it ‘officially’ ended the “shortest bear market in history.” Interestingly while roughly 30 to 40 million Americans face the risk of eviction, the 16th Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, is profiting from all the stock market craziness. The U.S. economy is facing financial disaster after the country’s government decided to enforce harsh lockdowns and shutdown over 60% of the nation’s business production. U.S. bureaucrats leveraged Covid-19 as an excuse and politicians continue to keep the American economy constricted. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Reserve has been providing “unlimited money” to the central bank’s friends from Wall Street. All this money the Fed has hosed at the hedge funds, special interests, and bureaucrat-backed slush funds, all the while 30 to 40 million U.S. citizens face eviction. In mid-August, the stock market, specifically the top three U.S. indexes, has seen impressive gains rebounding enough to make mainstream journalists call it the “shortest bear market in history.” The top three indexes in the U.S. (Dow Jones, S&P 500, NASDAQ) have all been rallying despite American citizens’ facing financial hardships this winter. Jerome Powell has been accused by a number of financial commentators for having a conflict of interest with Wall Street, the Fed’s bailouts, and his index portfolio. A number of reporters and financial commentators have reported that the 16th Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome “Jay” Powell, has a conflict of interest with these rallies. Financial analyst Sven Henrich and Wall Street on Parade reporters recently explained how Powell is profiting from the stock market spikes. “One person who is financially benefiting from every stock market rally is Jay Powell who has tens of millions in ETF fund long holdings,” Henrich notes. “Including SPY, RUT & holdings with Blackrock the same firm he selected for doing the Fed’s ETF buying.” News.Bitcoin.com reported on how America’s banks can simply bail themselves out, thanks to the Fed’s deal with Blackrock created this spring. Henrich also shared a screenshot of the Fed Chair’s holdings and said: Imagine being in charge of deciding unlimited QE while holding this long index portfolio and then saying the Fed does not increase wealth inequality. Screenshot of the Fed Chair’s portfolio according to the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Wall Street on Parade columnists, Pam Martens and Russ Martens, have grilled the U.S. central bank’s fraudulent financial moves on a regular basis and have also detailed Jerome Powell’s conflict of interest extensively. “Powell is a member of the one percent class,” the Martens write. “According to his 2019 financial disclosure, his net worth could run as high as $55 million. Much of his investments are with Goldman Sachs (a Wall Street bank that is supervised by the Fed) or with Blackrock and its iShares Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). The government-mandated financial disclosures report investment values in a range.” The Martens further added: The upper value of Powell’s holdings with Blackrock is $11.6 million. The upper range of Powell’s holdings with Goldman Sachs is $16.55 million. The name Goldman Sachs has been shortened to ‘GS’ in the disclosure document. It is well known that the Fed started funneling massive amounts of money to private dealers in mid-September 2019. By May, trillions of dollars in bailout money ($6.98T) was given to Wall Street special interests at the whims of five unelected officials. These five governors of the Federal Reserve Board and the New York Fed report to megabank shareholders such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Instead of helping the American people, Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the board governors have protected the banking cartel elite and dishonest bureaucrats. Central planners have leveraged the coronavirus in every possible way as an excuse to create massive stimulus packages. “Once the pandemic entered the picture, the Fed opened its money spigot to Wall Street even wider, setting up 11 additional bailout programs,” the Wall Street on Parade authors recently wrote on September 3. Despite the conflict of interest, Jerome Powell can pump his own bags whenever he wants. Moreover, Powell has no background as an economist and spent most of his career with the Wall Street firm, Dillon Read. That specific firm had a strong partnership with Carlyle Group, which spent $1 billion lobbying the government according to Martens’s report. What do you think about Jerome Powell being able to pump his own bags? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Unlimited QE and an Index Portfolio: How Fed Chair Jay Powell Can Pump His Bags appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A team of professional developers from Estonia is launching a new crypto exchanger Swep.io. Being extremely enthusiastic about making a name on the market Swep.io team has serious plans on improving and adding features into their brainchild. Swep.io users can already choose from more than 121 crypto coins in order to proceed in exchange operations legally having in mind refilling the list of the coins in the shortest time. Swep.io is a service that will unite services for the exchange of cryptocurrencies, as well as their safe storage, and will allow its clients to transfer funds in secure wallets within a short time frame. Besides that, the team is going to present the affiliate program, which will delight active users with pleasant bonuses and the possibility of getting passive earnings. Benefits of using Swep.io services are as follows: • The execution time of exchange usually varies from 1 to 30 minutes, depending on how quickly the transaction will be confirmed by the network and the new block will be formed in the blockchain network. Different coins require different confirmation times, and if some coin needs more confirmation, Swep.io notifies users of possible delays before they send the coins to the platform. In case of large volumes (more than 1 BTC), the processing time may be a little longer than just a few minutes during the general transactions. • While other services impose artificial limits on the exchange volumes, Swep.io allows exchanging any amount at a time. Swep.io guarantees that a client will get the exact amount of coins that he has stated. There are no upper limits for cryptocurrency exchanges on Swep.io. • The number of exchanges which have a very valuable option to protect clients from sudden market fluctuations is limited. Swep.io in its turn has advantages over other exchangers by allowing its clients to make operations with the fixed rate which is displayed to the client on the moment of transaction. Swep.io fixes the exchange rate in order to protect its customers from the adverse market rate fluctuations. Fixation remains if the funds arrive within 15 minutes after the transaction is created. • Swep.io technical support line is available 24\7. • Exchangers take their percentage of transactions as payment for their services. And this percentage lowers the potential revenue. For the exchange of any volume, Swep.io takes a single fair fee varying from 0.1% to 0.3%. Currently, there is a noticeable positive trend in increasing the financial literacy of the population, thus more and more people understand the intricacies of working with cryptocurrencies. Making cryptocurrencies more expendable, creating a supportive ecosystem around them which includes both reliable wallets and digital asset exchanges, can facilitate the adoption of digital assets around the world. The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and the expansion of the range of opportunities for their use has led to the emergence of specialized services that exchange digital coins for other coins or fiat money. If at one time these exchangers had to be searched for at incomprehensible Internet nooks, nowadays such exchangers are almost at every step. Therefore, seeing the need for worthy crypto exchangers that have proven their worth by time and deed, Swep.io decided to launch a well-thought-out and in-demand product. As the developers say, “We are working every day to improve the processes of cryptocurrency exchange”. About Swep.io Swep.io is a licensed platform for legal digital assets and cryptocurrency exchanges, which provides its users with legal, secure, and fast cryptocurrency swaps. You can choose from more than 121 coins, and the list of available coins is constantly expanding. The company is located in Estonia and has all the necessary permits and documents to carry out activities in the field of cryptocurrencies. Our support managers are always ready to help you and answer your questions, 24/7. Website https://swep.io/ Follow us: Twitter https://twitter.com/swep_io_ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/swep.io Facebook https://www.facebook.com/swep.io/ Telegram https://t.me/swepio 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 New Exchanger for Cryptocurrencies From Swep.io: Speed, Convenience and No Limits of Exchange Operations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Reports in the past few weeks detail that bad actors are targeting two privacy coin projects, Monero and Zcash, adding to concerns about the growing rate of security incidents involving blockchain networks. Such incidents, as well the repeated 51% attacks on the Ethereum Classic network or the Electrum wallet breach, suggest criminals are becoming more sophisticated. Still, bad actors sometimes use less sophisticated methods and appear to get away with it. For instance, the security breach targeting Monero users emerged after scammers created a fake Mymonero android app URL. In a post on Reddit urging users to ignore the fake link, Monero developers claimed this to be the work of the “same group of scammers that have been targeting Myetherwallet since at least 2016.” According to these developers, “every time it gets reported (the fake Myetherwallet) and taken down, they manage to come back up again.” Explaining why they issued an alert, the XMR Core team believes its “very likely that the app can be used to steal user’s funds” and is thus urging users to “report the fake web address to Google.” Meanwhile, another privacy-focused crypto, the Zcash project appears to have been targeted as well after attackers created a fake Twitter account, according to Tim Ismilyaev, CEO and Founder at Mana Security. According to Ismilyaev, “the account (which now boasts more than 6,000 followers) even publishes information about fake distributions of the crypto and contains Ethereum addresses for fundraising.” Explaining why the privacy coins are apparently getting targeted now, the Mana Security founder says for criminals, this is more logical than aiming for bigger coins. “The key reason for this is the simplicity to get to the top-3 positions in search results. It’s orders of magnitude more challenging to get the same places for Bitcoin and Ethereum,” explains Ismilyaev. Still, the CEO is also blaming the Google Play store, which he says does not “manually verify each update of apps like Apple does for its store.” As a consequence, Google’s store “contains at least dozens thousands of counterfeit apps.” It costs less than $25 “for an attacker to publish a new fake wallet” after “spending just a couple of days making the app.” It also appears that attackers target users that “don’t want to take extra steps to verify wallets from multiple sources.” Security experts like Ismilyaev say that “before installing a new crypto wallet” it would be wise to “find references about the particular wallet on the internet.” Other steps that new users can take in order to protect themselves include triple-checking wallets. “Developers usually post recommended wallets to use. Also, users can find reviews of specific wallets on the internet: all good wallets have a handful of youtube/blog reviews posted in 2018/2019,” says Ismalyaev. Meanwhile, as law enforcement and cybersecurity tech firms make advances in the arena of blockchain analysis and tracing, there is a likelihood that transactions on privacy-focused networks will become traceable. Just recently, Ciphertrace claimed it now has tools capable of tracing Monero transactions even as other experts doubt this claim. Whichever is the case, Ismilyaev is urging crypto buyers not to take chances when acquiring coins such as Monero. “Buy crypto in batches — to minimize the likelihood of buying stolen funds. Limit the first purchase of a cryptocurrency to $10 and withdraw the coin at any crypto exchange. If it works well, then buy the rest of the coins.” Despite Google Play’s alleged failure to flag fake apps, the CEO says users can still check an application’s installations, ratings, and reviews for guidance. “It’s a good practice to install only apps with 100k+ installs, four-star+ rating, and 1000+ reviews,” Ismaliyaev argues. What do you think of these security breaches? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Criminals Target Privacy Coins: How To Avoid Downloading Fake Wallet Apps appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The cryptocurrency economy slid significantly on Thursday afternoon (ET), as the aggregate market cap of all the crypto coins shaved more than 10% during yesterday’s trading sessions. More than 12 hours later, a number of the top crypto assets are still down in value between 4-12%, and some digital coins saw even bigger losses during the last 48 hours. Things change quickly in the crypto ecosystem, as digital currency proponents have been dealing with extremely volatile prices this week. For instance, bitcoin (BTC) touched a top on September 1, as prices touched $12,044 per coin on Tuesday. Ever since then the crypto asset has been tumbling downward. BTC hovered around $11,200 on September 3, but shuddered once more to a low of $10,000 the following day. Bitcoin (BTC) is down 5.4% on Friday, over 10% for the last seven days, and down 11% for the last 30 days. At the time of publication, BTC has been coasting along between $10,250 to $10,400. Bitcoin (BTC) prices on Bitstamp on September 4, 2020, at 11:30 am (ET). Following BTC’s drop, ethereum (ETH) also lost a decent chunk of value during the last 48 hours. ETH is down over 5% today as the crypto asset is trading for $395 per coin. Ethereum has lost only a half of a percentage during the week and is still up over 10% for the last 30 days. Tether has removed XRP from the third-largest market cap position with a valuation of roughly $13.7 billion between all the circulating USDT. XRP has lost 2.5% today and the crypto asset is currently swapping for $0.25 per token. Bitcoin cash (BCH) prices on Bitstamp on September 4, 2020, at 11:30 am (ET). BCH prices have been drawing downwards during the last few months as community infighting intensified. The number five position now belongs to the Polkadot (DOT) project with it’s $4.5 billion market valuation. Chainlink (LINK) holds the sixth position trading for $12.67 per coin and has a market cap of around $4.4 billion on Friday. Bitcoin cash (BCH) markets are down over 5% today as each BCH swaps for $235 per coin. BCH is down 7.5% for the last 90 days, over 20% during the last 30 days, and one-week stats show bitcoin cash is down 12.8%. All over Twitter and forums like Reddit, crypto proponents are trying to figure out why digital currency markets shuddered. Some people think the price could go lower as there’s a $9,700 CME gap in the waiting. A CME gap happens when the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Bitcoin futures markets pause trading during the weekend, but futures prices don’t reflect spot prices that have risen higher until the next week’s open. Not all CME and futures gaps get filled but sometimes they do and some large price dumps in the crypto economy have been attributed to CME price gaps. CME Bitcoin Futures price gaps via Tradingview. Other theories have pointed to miners selling bitcoins as BTC deposits from mining operations into exchange wallets were the highest they had been in weeks. Data stemming from mining pool outflows via large pool operations like Poolin, Slush, and Haobtc show that it’s a possibility bitcoin miners sold off a good number of coins during the last 48 hours. Analytics from Glassnode and Cryptoquant, indicate that bitcoin miners transferred a great number of BTC on Thursday which corroborates with the miner sell-off theories. Bitcoin miner data from Glassnode and Cryptoquant indicate miners may have dumped a lot of coins during the last 48 hours. Another cause people are looking at during the dump is the decentralized finance (defi) economy simmering down. A great number of crypto asset holders have been complaining about ETH’s massive transaction fees and a lot of money has left defi since September 1. Defi doldrums have taken place with a lot of investors exiting the space during the last 48 hours. On Tuesday, defipulse.com stats show the total value locked (TVL) in defi was $9.5 billion, but that has since shuddered to $8.8 billion on Friday. Many crypto speculators assume that a great number of defi players may have exited their positions in recent days. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index (CFGI) now points to “fear” on September 4, 2020. Lastly, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index (CFGI) has changed quite a bit in the last few days as well. Last month the chart read “greed” and similarly the chart was reading “greed” during the last week. However, just before the big price slide, the CFGI slid from “extreme greed” to “fear” during the last 24 hours of trading. Despite this, the overall market valuation of all 7,000+ crypto assets is still well above a quarter of a trillion dollars at $326 billion. Alongside this metric, is $49 billion worth of global trade volume, but tether (USDT) commands most of the volume today. However, many traders look at the stablecoin economy’s backdrop of funds a positive outlook as many believe that money will eventually flow right back into more decentralized crypto assets like bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH). What do you think about crypto markets taking a huge hit in value during the last 48 hours? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments below. The post Market Update: Blood in the Crypto Streets, Bitcoin Miner Dumps, CME Gap, Defi Doldrums appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin and ether can be used to pay taxes in the Swiss Canton of Zug starting next tax season. Zug’s crypto valley is home to many cryptocurrency businesses, and by accepting bitcoin and ether for tax payments, the canton aims to “promote and simplify the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life.” Pay Taxes With Bitcoin Switzerland’s Canton of Zug announced Thursday that it will start accepting cryptocurrency for tax payments. The Zug Department of Finance is collaborating with local company Bitcoin Suisse to offer tax settlement with cryptocurrencies, starting in the upcoming tax season which begins in February next year. The announcement details: Beginning in 2021, taxes in the Canton of Zug can be paid using the cryptocurrencies bitcoin and ether. Companies and private individuals can use BTC or ETH to pay their tax bills of up to CHF 100,000 ($109,900). Partial payments are not accepted. A pilot will take place in the coming weeks to ensure that everything is ready for the upcoming tax season. Anyone wanting to pay their tax bills with cryptocurrencies may contact the cantonal tax office. They will be provided with the QR code for payment. Zug’s Finance Director Heinz Tännler clarified: “We do not take any risk with this new payment method, as we always receive the amount in Swiss francs, even if payment is made in bitcoin or ether.” Founded in 2013, Bitcoin Suisse is a regulated Swiss financial intermediary that offers prime brokerage, custody, crypto payments, collateralized loans, staking, and other crypto-financial services for private and institutional clients. The company is currently in the licensing phase for the Swiss and Liechtenstein banking licenses. Director Tännler opined: As the home of the Crypto Valley, it is important to us to further promote and simplify the use of cryptocurrencies in everyday life. By enabling the payment of taxes with bitcoin or ether, we are taking a big step in this direction. In January, Zermatt, a Swiss municipality known for its ski resort, announced that it started accepting bitcoin for government services, including payment for local taxes. Meanwhile, the Chiasso municipality started accepting bitcoin for tax payments since January 2018. Do you think all governments should accept bitcoin for taxes? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Bitcoin Will Be Accepted for Tax Payments in Swiss Canton Zug Next Year appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new trojan called Krypto Cibule uses infested computers’ power to mine cryptocurrency, steal crypto wallet files, and redirect incoming digital assets to a hacker address. The malware rides on the Tor network and the Bittorrent protocol to perform attacks, according to an extensive report by cybersecurity company, ESET. “Krypto Cibule is spread through malicious torrents for ZIP files whose contents masquerade as installers for cracked or pirated software and games,” researchers Matthieu Faou and Alexandre Cote Cyr, detailed in their report published September 2. The malware is mostly active in the Czech Republic and Slovakia where it has been responsible for hundreds of attacks. Most victims downloaded the malware from files hosted on a torrent site popular in the two countries called uloz.to. The mining operations of the malware, which ESET researchers trace back to 2018, are written into XMRig, an open-source program that mines monero using the CPU, and kawpowminer, another open-source program that mines ethereum (ETH) using the GPU, with both programs set up to connect to a hacker-controlled mining server over the Tor proxy. Researchers have attributed the little attention previously given to the trojan to the discretion of its operations. To keep the owner of the computer unsuspecting, the malware recalls the GPU miner when the battery is under 30% and stops operations altogether when the battery is under 10%. The clipboard-hijacking operation masquerades as SystemArchitectureTranslation.exe. It monitors changes to the clipboard in order to replace wallet addresses with addresses of controlled by the malware operator in order to misdirect funds. The researchers noted: At the time of this writing, the wallets used by the clipboard hijacking component had received a little over $1,800 in bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum. Exfiltration works by walking through the filesystem of each available drive to look for filenames that contain certain terms. ESET researchers linked the trojan to terms mostly referring to cryptocurrencies, wallets, or miners, as well as more generic ones like crypto, seed, and password. Files that could provide data such as private keys are also targeted. According to the research team, the use of legitimate open-source tools as well as a wide range of anti-detection methods is likely to have kept the malware under the radar this far. Krypto Cibule is still being actively developed, with new features having been added in its two-year-old life. As news.Bitcoin.com reported recently, hackers have already been plundering bitcoin through the large-scale use of malicious relays on the Tor network. Tor is a privacy-oriented network popular with bitcoin investors throughout the world. What do you think about the new malware exploiting Tor and Bit Torrent? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Research: New Malware Employs Tor and Bittorrent To Steal Bitcoin and Ether appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Chilean cryptocurrency exchange, Badu.com has denied allegations that it fraudulently transferred client funds without authorization. The fraud allegations are being reported by Itau bank and both parties are set to appear before the country’s Tribunal for the Defense of Free Competition (TDLC), which must rule on the case. The Itau Bank, which initially reported the complaint in February, reiterated its position on September 2 that Badu is perpetrating fraud by not adhering regulations. According to a report in Criptonoticias, the bank is also accusing Badu of forgery and the use of a fake profile to facilitate the fraud. During the last days of February 2020, using forged bank details, a false email account, and a digital copy identity card, Badu managed to transfer $26,000 (20 million pesos) from a client’s current account to Buda.com. A user profile had been created in the name of this person (victim) and this was used to illegally to acquire cryptocurrencies. The report adds that on detecting alleged fraud, the client reportedly made a formal complaint with the “Public ministry” while the bank reignited the longstanding feud with the exchange by reporting that Badu.com does not have effective compliance systems. In response, an official with the exchange regretted the identity theft but expressed surprised at Itau bank’s allegations. According to the exchange’s spokesperson, Diego Vera, “the reasons why they accuse (Badu) of promoting scams are unknown since the theft of the credentials was from the client’s bank account with Itaú, not from our platform.” Vera further argues that it was not Badu’s fault that those behind the crime decided to purchase cryptocurrencies on its platform. Emphasizing the baselessness of the allegations, the spokesperson gives a “hypothetical case in which a thief robs a bank and with the money decides to go and buy a television.” Vera asks rhetorically: “Is it the fault of the person who sells the television or the lack of bank security?” Concerning allegations that the exchange platform does not fully adhere to regulatory requirements, Vera dismisses this by explaining that clients “use of dynamic keys when accessing the platform.” Furthermore, “know your customer (KYC) processes are undertaken before accounts are created while the use of an email to prohibit logging in from unregistered IP addresses is also enabled.” Meanwhile, this case marks the second time the TDLC is asked to settle the feud involving Badu and Itau. In April 2018, Badu and another exchange, CryptoMKT complained to TDLC after Itau closed the pair’s checking accounts. Ten months later, the TDLC ruled in favor of the exchanges. What do you think of this haggling between the bank and the exchange? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. The post Chilean Cryptocurrency Exchange Denies Fraud Allegations, Tribunal Set Rule on Complaint appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Advances in cryptography have not met with user enthusiasm, suggesting a disconnect between the cryptocurrency community and its cypherpunk ancestors. According to Coin Metrics, transactions of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies zcash (ZEC), monero (XMR), and grin only add up to 6% of bitcoin’s transactions. Zcash’s privacy feature is significantly underutilized, with less than 2% of transactions fully shielded. Although the coins offer more privacy than bitcoin (BTC), their reception is still underwhelming. “For every transaction on one of these privacy assets, there are 16 done on Bitcoin and countless more on assets that offer even less privacy,” Coin Metrics detailed, in its September 1 report titled, “State of the Network: Issue 66.” Coin Metrics, a crypto market data provider, is worried that these statistics mark a departure from anonymity, a fundamental principle in the initial design of virtual assets. The authors emphasized: As cryptocurrencies continue to be adopted by the wider public, its (sic) original privacy-oriented ethos must be transmitted in order for it to survive. Failing to do so could result in the original idea of anonymous transactions systems fading away and being superseded by other conceptions of what crypto-currencies are useful for. ZEC has a privacy function that does not reveal any information about who transacts or the amount exchanged. However, the recent crypto breakthrough it incorporates, known as zk-SNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Arguments of Knowledge), is optional so that users can still use transparent transactions. According to Coin Metrics, only around 5% of all issued ZEC is currently shielded and just 2% fully shielded. Grin uses the Mimblewimble protocol to aggregate transactions, obfuscating native transaction inputs and outputs. XMR aggregates a sender’s true coins with ring signatures. Outside these coins, a privacy feature for bitcoin, Coinjoin, allows users to “mix” their coins together to obscure individual transaction records. With statistics leaning towards dominant bitcoin usage, the increased encryption of crypto, thanks to new innovations like Bulletproofs and Mimblewimble, is a case for optimism. “We can also note a renewed interest in Coinjoin with providers like Wasabi and Samourai’s Whirlpool which, despite representing a very small proportion of bitcoin’s transaction volume, are growing quickly,” said the Coin Metrics report. What do you think about crypto users apathy toward privacy? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Privacy Options Underutilized in Cryptocurrency Usage: Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On September 3, 2020, the well known Yearn Finance defi project “paused” the popular ethereum liquidity vault (yETH) service, after locking in a significant $139 million. Yearn’s vault feature launched on Wednesday, and saw $100 million deposited on the first day. The vault hype has also caused the Maker DAO project to make a governance call in order to allow more DAI minting. The defi project Yearn Finance has been a topical conversation within the crypto community, as last week the project’s native YFI token climbed awfully close to $40,000 per token. Today, YFI is swapping for $32,000 per token and the Yearn Finance team launched the anticipated vault service on Wednesday. The Yearn vault system allows users to yield farm very high yields from a number of defi applications used. Essentially ETH collateral is used to mint the stablecoin DAI using maker by leveraging a debt position. Then the infrastructure uses the DAI to yield high interest via the Curve.fi pool and a number of decentralized exchanges (dex) like Uniswap. According to a number of Yearn vault users, vault participants are accruing a whopping 89-92% APY on the collateralized ETH. However, some users disagree with the 89% APY estimate and believe the level is more likely between “65-75% APY.” When millions of dollars worth of ethereum (ETH) was flowing into the vault at an exponential rate, the Maker DAO team decided to change the ETH debt ceiling by 120 million ETH to 540 million ETH. The move allows for an increase of DAI minting in order to help facilitate the Yearn vault system and other vaults. On Thursday, Yearn Finance’s official Twitter account announced that the team has paused the vault deposits. “Deposits to yETH have been paused,” the team wrote on Twitter. “~70 [million] DAI minted. Withdrawals unaffected. We will allow deposits again in the future. For now, this is a high enough cap to balance between best profits and best risk adjustment.” Although not everyone agreed with the decision to pause, as a few people said that they see “one mention that a cap was being considered anywhere.” A number of YFI proponents were pleased with the outcome as one person tweeted: yETH vault is full – $139 million added to YFI’s TVL in less than 2 days. These are long-term holdings with a 0.5% withdrawal fees, not your yield farming money that comes and goes. I genuinely have not seen a crypto product with a better product-market fit. Despite the high anticipation for the Yearn Finance vault feature and the $139 million deposited, some people think it is risky. Other individuals also asked theoretical questions like: “Could a whale crash ETH price, clog blocks so yVault CDP [transactions] cannot get through, then liquidate the (collateralized debt position) CDP?” The price of ETH tumbled over 7% on Thursday, but market carnage like March 12 (Black Thursday) possibly could wreak far more havoc on such systems. The Maker DAO team dealt with these very problems of uncollateralized DAI and liquidations on Black Thursday. However, the Yearn Finance vault smart contract is claimed to be insured and audited and the CDP is 2x collateralized as well. Only a black swan market rout will be able to test whether or not Yearn’s ethereum liquidity vault strategy is strong enough. What do you think about the $139 million deposited into the Yearn vault and the 90% APY? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. The post Yearn Finance Vault Users Lock $139M: Farmers Claim Collateralized ETH Gathers 90% APY appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Stablecoins have been gathering a lot of steam and settling massive value in recent months. Moreover, on Thursday, Coin Metrics’ executive Nic Carter mentioned on Twitter that “stablecoins have been adding $100 [million per day] since mid-July. While a number of dollar-pegged stablecoins have seen demand, the longstanding tether is still capturing most of the economic activity. There’s been a lot of changes in the crypto ecosystem with the recent rush toward decentralized finance (defi) applications, but the stablecoin economy has shined just as brightly. For instance, the overall market valuation of all stablecoins on March 31, 2020 was $5.4 billion and it increased 211% with the stablecoin market cap hovering at $16.8 billion today. Coin Metrics’ executive Nic Carter’s recent tweet shows how massively the stablecoin economy has grown. “Everyone got so excited about defi no one pointed out that stablecoins have been adding $100 [million per day] since mid-July,” Carter said, sharing an aggregate stablecoin chart from Coin Metrics. Coin Metrics’ executive Nic Carter noted on Thursday that stablecoins have been adding $100 [million per day] since mid-July.Presently there are three stablecoins that are outpacing most of the competitors but tether (USDT) is outshining them all. At the time of publication, tether (USDT) has a market valuation of $13.6 billion which is 80.95% dominance in terms of the overall stablecoin market capitalization. The second-largest stablecoin by market cap is USDC which has an overall valuation of around $1.5 billion today. DAI holds the third position with just over a half of a billion dollars at $531 million on Thursday. Stablecoin trade volume really started heating up in January 2019, but on March 31, 2020, it increased dramatically. Tether (USDT) captures most of the stablecoin trade volumes worldwide. Stablecoin trade volume has spiked considerably since January 1, 2019. Data from September 3, 2020, shows that the 26 listed stablecoins on Coingecko capture $42 billion in trade volume. Again, tether (USDT) which is spread across various blockchain networks captures 92% of the $42 billion in global stablecoin swaps. In comparison, the second-highest trade volume held by Circle’s USDC stablecoin only has $656 million in global trades. Top ten stablecoin index according to Coingecko stats on September 3, 2020. Statistics from Chainalysis shows that stablecoin usage in East Asia is the most dominant. The Chainalysis report also shows that tether (USDT) eclipsed bitcoin (BTC) by the “most-received cryptocurrency by East Asia-based addresses in June 2020.” Tether (USDT), Chainalysis stresses, is the “most popular stablecoin in East Asia” capturing 93% of all the stablecoin transferred value in the region. “Tether has become the de facto fiat stand-in for Chinese cryptocurrency users and primary means of on-ramping to bitcoin and other standard cryptocurrencies,” Chainalysis details. “Though yuan-for-Tether trades are also not allowed under the ban, it’s common for users to buy Tether under the table from OTC brokers or through other means such as by using a foreign bank account,” the company’s report concludes. What do you think about the massive rise in stablecoin value and usage in 2020? Let us know what you think in the comments section below. The post $16B Worth of Dollar-Pegged Cryptos: Stablecoins Add $100M a Day Since Mid-July appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A robust cryptocurrency bull market is in the making, a Weiss Crypto Ratings analyst explained. Citing central banks’ “reckless money printing policies” and “the explosion in Defi innovation,” he sees long-term fundamentals favoring cryptocurrencies despite some short-term selloffs. Robust Bull Market in the Making Weiss Crypto Ratings’ Juan Villaverde explained last week that long-term fundamentals continue to favor cryptocurrency, despite some short-term selloffs. The analyst built the Technology and Adoption models that are at the core of the Weiss Crypto Ratings. He believes that two key factors will drive the next bull market: central banks’ “reckless” money printing and decentralized finance (Defi) innovation. “The reckless money-printing policies currently pursued by most major central banks around the world is no doubt a long-term catalyst for crypto asset price appreciation,” he described. His sentiment was shared by Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, who similarly believes that central banks’ mass money printing will drive the price of hard assets like bitcoin and gold. “We have a global money-printing orgy going on,” he previously said, adding that “Hard assets are going to be a big buy, gold and bitcoin are my two favorites.” Another major factor that will drive the cryptocurrency bull market is Defi, Villaverde asserted. “One of the main drivers behind crypto bull markets is innovation,” he explained. “This was true in the first bull market, when Bitcoin was invented, and in the second major bull market, when Ethereum burst into the scene and enabled smart contracts and initial coin offerings.” Referring to Defi, the analyst affirmed, “We see the same enthusiasm now.” Total value locked into Defi projects. Source: Defi Pulse The total value locked into Defi projects has recently grown by leaps and bounds. The value stands at $9.54 billion at the time of writing, according to Defi Pulse, a significant increase from the $7.88 billion level that news.Bitcoin.com reported in August. Currently, Uniswap is in the lead, followed by Maker, Aave, Curve, Synthetix, and Yearn.finance. Villaverde emphasized that “the explosion in Defi innovation is also a catalyst for higher prices — in the short, medium and long term,” elaborating: It’s against this fundamental backdrop — money-printing and Defi — that we can conclude what lies beyond this pullback is a run to higher prices for leading crypto assets. What we’ve seen so far is the new crypto bull starting to stretch its legs. Although there were some short-term selloffs last week, Villaverde affirmed that they are in line with his model, which warned of a pullback between the second half of August and early September. Most cryptocurrencies are still trading well below the all-time highs established between December 2017 and January 2018, the analyst pointed out,” adding: Looking beyond short-term gyrations, we continue to see a robust bull market in the making. Do you agree with this analysis? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Long-Term Fundamentals Signal Robust Crypto Bull Market Fueled by Reckless Money Printing, Defi appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A federal appeals court has ruled that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) mass surveillance program that collected data on billions of Americans’ telephone calls was illegal and possibly unconstitutional. The program was exposed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. A Victory for Privacy Rights The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit published its 59-page ruling of the “United States v. Moalin” case on Wednesday, almost seven years since the appeal was filed in November 2013. It involves four Somali immigrants who were convicted on terrorism financing charges. The case also “raised complex questions regarding the U.S. government’s authority to collect bulk data about its citizens’ activities under the auspices of a foreign intelligence investigation, as well as the rights of criminal defendants when the prosecution uses information derived from foreign intelligence surveillance,” the court document details. A three-judge panel ruled that the NSA metadata program, which was exposed by former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013 and officially ended in 2015, violated U.S. surveillance laws. Under the program, the NSA collected and analyzed bulk data provided by telecommunications companies. According to Snowden, the agency tracked 5 billion phone records a day. While upholding the convictions of the four Somali defendants, the court document states: The panel held that the government may have violated the Fourth Amendment when it collected the telephony metadata of millions of Americans. Former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden was cited six times in the “United States v. Moalin” court document. The court document cites Snowden, who now lives in exile in Russia, six times. “This judge repeatedly cites the Snowden disclosures, showing once again the power of a whistleblower driven by conscience and a press dedicated to the truth,” Freedom of the Press Foundation commented. Responding to the court ruling, Snowden tweeted: Seven years ago, as the news declared I was being charged as a criminal for speaking the truth, I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA’s activities as unlawful and in the same ruling credit me for exposing them. And yet that day has arrived. Patrick Toomey, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is a victory for our privacy rights.” He noted in a tweet that “intelligence officials misled the public and Congress when they said that the NSA’s bulk collection program provided important evidence in Mr. Moalin’s case.” Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Jennifer Granick said the Moalin case was the only case “the government could point to to say that the phone records dragnet ‘works.’ And now we know all that illegal mass surveillance wasn’t relevant even in this single instance,” elaborating: Government lawyers argued the phone dragnet was critical and lawful. Actually, it was illegal. And it wasn’t critical. It wasn’t even necessary to show probable cause, never mind guilt. Snowden added: “The ruling of the court demolishes the longest-held defenses of mass surveillance. After taking into account the best of the government’s evidence, the court found the program unlawful and ineffective, establishing the government’s public claims of ‘necessity’ were deceitful.” Snowden has been a long-time bitcoin advocate. News.Bitcoin.com recently reported that he was paid about $35K to discuss bitcoin at virtual conferences. President Donald Trump said on Aug. 15 that he is considering a pardon for Snowden, Reuters reported. However, the former NSA contractor’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, argued that the U.S. should drop all possible prosecutions against Snowden instead of just pardoning him as he had not committed any crimes. What do you think about this court ruling? Let us know in the comments section below. The post US Federal Court Rules NSA Mass Surveillance Illegal, Credits Edward Snowden appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The verified Twitter account for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal website and mobile app has been hacked, Twitter has reportedly confirmed. Tweets asking for bitcoin donations for the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for Covid-19 were posted on the account. Twitter Account Tied to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Hacked India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s twitter account for his personal website and mobile app was hacked on Thursday, Twitter has reportedly confirmed. The hacked account was for Twitter handle @narendramodi_in, which has about 2.5 million followers. Modi’s personal account with 61.8 million followers was unaffected. A series of tweets were posted on the hacked Modi’s account for about an hour, asking people to donate bitcoin to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for Covid-19. One tweet reads: Yes this account is hacked by John Wick … We have not hacked Paytm Mall. The hacker used the pseudonym John Wick, which likely refers to the action movie character of the same name portrayed by Keanu Reeves. It is also the alias of a known cybercrime group. On Sunday, risk intelligence firm Cyble claimed that this group hacked Paytm Mall, the e-commerce marketplace wing of Paytm. Cyble alleged that the hackers were able to gain unrestricted access to Paytm Mall’s entire database using a backdoor/ Adminer. The company has denied this claim. Another tweet from the Modi’s hacked account reads: “I appeal to you all to donate generously to PM National Relief Fund for Covid-19, now India begin with crypto currency, kindly donate bitcoin to [ETH address] #eth #cryto … Official tweet of PM Modi.” All the tweets made during the account breach have been deleted. Tweets from the hacked Twitter handle @narendramodi_in, a verified account connected to Modi that has about 2.5 million followers. Many of the tweets ask for bitcoin donations. Twitter told several news outlets that it was aware of the breach and had taken steps to secure the compromised account. “We are actively investigating the situation. At this time, we are not aware of additional accounts being impacted,” a spokeswoman for the company told Reuters. In July, the Twitter accounts of many high-profile personalities and companies were hacked, including those of Apple, former U.S. president Barack Obama, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Cash App, Spacex and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Floyd Mayweather, Google, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, Kanye West, former New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. There has been no indication or evidence of any correlation between Thursday’s hack and the massive hack in July, according to Twitter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested an alleged mastermind of the July Twitter hack, the 17-year-old Florida teen Graham Ivan Clark. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. What do you think was the reason for this hack? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Indian Prime Minister Modi’s Twitter Account Hacked, Bitcoin Donations Requested appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The race for blockchain interoperability was very much a trending topic during the bull market of 2017. Back then, we witnessed the birth of very promising projects like Fusion and Wanchain. Then the bear market started, and interoperability was no longer as hot as it once was, similar to every other topic related to blockchain development. However, these two projects continued to develop their respective ecosystems; they were even joined by a third project in this same niche, Ren. Why Fusion, Wanchain and Ren? However, there is still no single project that can be considered as the leader of the interoperability niche, and which links all blockchains and facilitates their communication – despite the architectural differences between them. Needless to say, sooner or later, the blockchain space will need such a project! This need arose even more during the recent DeFi boom, where the majority of the tools and applications used were limited to the Ethereum blockchain, with the involvement of only a small portion of Bitcoin (somewhat above 0.1% of the circulating BTC). At the same time, the other giant blockchains like Ripple and Litecoin are almost totally absent. Billions of dollars are locked in these blockchains and they can’t be used in the DeFi space. In this article, we will review Fusion, Wanchain and Ren, three potential projects that could solve these DeFi limitation issues, and take this space to the next level. The projects will be compared based on essential criteria and other aspects, then we will determine which project has the highest chance to become the blockchain that connects all the blockchains. But before that, let’s just first explain why these three projects in particular were picked. Why Fusion, Wanchain and Ren? It is true that there are many projects that specialize in the interoperability niche, but having considered several factors like technology, a team’s experience, a project’s quality, its development, and its community; these three projects stand out as the main potential projects that could become the internet of blockchains. Many people in the crypto space think that projects like Cosmos or Polkadot specialize in interoperability, while in fact, they use a compatibility model. The main difference between interoperability and compatibility is that the communication between parachains in the compatibility model is made possible through a central Hub which forces a certain standard, and other chains have to stick to it in order to be part of the ecosystem. It seems that the top priority of these two projects is more to replace Ethereum and attract new chains and projects to build on their platforms than it is to connect the different blockchains. Fusion, Wanchain and Ren on the other hand, use a “true” interoperability model based on cryptographic concepts. These three projects aim to create ecosystems that facilitate a trustless decentralized communication between different blockchains. These cryptographic solutions aim to use a decentralized technology for custody. The process of cross-chain communication is similar to existing models such as WBTC (minting assets with 1:1 ratio on other blockchains). However, unlike WBTC which keeps your original assets in a centralized entity (BitGo) and requires KYC, the three projects in our comparison use very advanced solutions to hold your assets in a fully trustless and decentralized way. Fusion Fusion is a fully decentralized smart contracts platform. The primary goals of the project are to become an ecosystem that links the different blockchains, allowing them to communicate with each other, and to connect global finance to blockchain technology. Fusion was founded by DJ Qian, one of the pioneers in blockchain research and mining in China. The main component of Fusion’s technology is the DCRM “Decentralized Control Rights Management”. It uses the “private key sharding” concept to secure users’ assets. Fusion has also introduced the Time-Lock function. It is the first blockchain to use the concept of time in its smart contracts. This will open the door to complex financial transactions involving time such as derivatives, loans and mortgages. The Fusion ecosystem is growing fast, with new projects joining the DCRM Alliance and decentralized applications being launched on the platform, such as WeDeFi and Anyswap. WeDeFi: It is an easy-to-use wallet that is available on Android and iOS. It allows users to store and manage their assets. WeDeFi offers a no-loss lottery where users can deposit their FSN coins and participate in the lottery. They will get back their coins no matter if they win or lose. Anyswap: It is currently the only swap protocol in the blockchain space that can carry out cross-chain transactions. Anyswap has its own automatic pricing and liquidity systems, and it uses Fusion’s DCRM as a cross-chain solution. Therefore, it will support all the coins and tokens that the DCRM technology can integrate, including: BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, ADA, ERC-20 tokens and many other coins and tokens. Anyswap introduced its governance token “ANY” and has recently added USDT to the platform and announced a strategic partnership with Hotbit. Wanchain Wanchain is another smart contracts platform project specializing in blockchain interoperability. It allows the exchange of data and value between private, consortium and public blockchains. The platform supports private transactions based on ring signatures. Wanchain uses “secure multiparty computation” and “Shamir’s Secret Sharing” concepts to ensure the safety of users’ assets. This cross-chain solution has already integrated Bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS blockchains into its ecosystem, with future plans to create direct bridges between these different blockchains. Earlier this year, two projects built on Wanchain were launched: Rivex (RVX): It is an interoperable and scalable layer-2 solution that aims to combine the strengths of public and side chains to empower the next generation of decentralized applications. FinNexus (FNX): It is a DeFi focused project specializing in building open finance protocols. FNX has released its first product which is a decentralized options protocol powered by a single liquidity pool on both Ethereum and Wanchain. Ren Ren is a protocol that enables permissionless and private transfer of values between different blockchains. The core product of the project is the virtual machine “RenVM”, a trustless custodian that brings interoperability to DeFi on Ethereum. Cross-chain communication is handled by RenVM. It holds the assets that users want to transfer, and mints an ERC-20 wrapped token to be used within the Ethereum blockchain. RenVM allows the minting of Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Zcash on the Ethereum blockchain, with future plans to mint coins on the Polkadot blockchain. For example, if you want to use BTC in the Ethereum blockchain: You hand it to RenVM, it holds it and mints that BTC as an ERC-20 token (RenBTC) on Ethereum with 1:1 ratio. This process is secured by – you’ve probably guessed it – Shamir’s Secret Sharing and secure multiparty computation. RenVM can be used as a plugin for decentralized applications built on Ethereum. Once integrated to a smart contract, users will be able to benefit from cross-chain liquidity provided by Ren. Ren cryptocurrency is an ERC-20 token. It is used to run the dark nodes that are entirely governed by code. Comparative Analysis Project’s Nature Fusion, Wanchain and Ren are three projects that are focused on connecting siloed blockchains using cryptographic interoperability. However, there are some fundamental differences between these projects, starting with their nature. Fusion and Wanchain are infrastructure projects. In addition to their interoperability components, each project has its own mainnet and its own smart contract platform for dApps development and token issuance, while Ren is an interoperability protocol built on Ethereum. In addition to its cross-chain solution based on the DCRM technology, the Fusion team developed unique concepts to create a convenient ecosystem for DeFi. For example, the Time-Lock function allows users to perform complex financial transactions that involve time by using the Multi Triggering Mechanism, which is considered as the next generation of smart contracts. Fusion offers many other DeFi-oriented features such as quantum swap and USAN swap. Currently, there are two projects that are built on the Fusion platform. WeDeFi, and Anyswap. Wanchain is also an interoperability project, it has already integrated Bitcoin, Ethereum and EOS blockchains into its ecosystem. So far, two DeFi projects have been built on Wanchain: FinNexus and Rivex. Interoperability and Decentralization Now let’s talk about the interoperability of these three projects! Through DCRM, Fusion has created an ecosystem that supports the integration of blockchains that have ECDSA (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, etc) or EdDSA (Cardano, NANO, Stellar, WAVES, and even Facebook’s Libra!) as signature algorithms. This means that almost every blockchain out there could be integrated into Fusion’s ecosystem. DCRM has currently around 45 working nodes. Once a user locks-in his assets in the Fusion blockchain, these nodes will only receive shards of his private key, and will never have access to other shards, so assets are completely safe. The majority of DCRM nodes do not belong to the Fusion Foundation. Fusion’s cross-chain solution is therefore fully decentralized. Wanchain is another blockchain that aims to create an ecosystem to connect all the blockchains. The process is somewhat slower, and blockchains are integrated one by one. However, according to the roadmap released recently, Wanchain started working on direct bridges between blockchains, and will launch their first “two-way bridge” later this year. Wanchain interoperability uses storeman nodes (equivalent to Fusion’s DCRM nodes). These nodes still belong to the Wanchain foundation, but their decentralization is under testing and the full storeman nodes decentralization is planned to be finished in 2021. Ren does not offer an ecosystem where it can connect all the blockchains. Instead it offers interoperability through its core product, RenVM. This virtual machine is used to create direct bridges between different blockchains. Currently, RenVM brings liquidity from BTC, BCH and ZEC to Ethereum applications, with possible support for ECDSA blockchains. Ren has future plans to bring liquidity to the Polkadot blockchain. Currently in Mainnet SubZero, RenVM cross-chain technology is still centralized. The team claims to offer a “semi-decentralized” solution due to the fact that no KYC is required, however, Ren nodes (called Darknodes) are run by the Ren team and other partners from the Ren Alliance. Another important point to mention is that Fusion and Wanchain code are open-source, and can easily be accessed. On the other hand, some important parts of Ren’s code are closed-source, and a lot of questions are being asked about the reasons behind this decision. No clear answer has been given by the team. Token Use cases The use cases of a certain token are definitely an important factor to estimate its real value. Markets are not always rational, but sooner or later, tokens usually end up reaching their real value depending on the quality of the services they provide to users. Fusion coin (FSN) has many use cases within Fusion’s cross-chain DeFi features and applications. FSN is used to pay network gas fees and to run DCRM nodes. It can be used in the different Time-Lock transactions: such as borrowing, lending, loans, etc. FSN holders can also stake their coins and earn passive income. FSN coin can also be used within Fusion dApps. WeDeFi allows coin holders to use their Safebet no-loss lottery and to borrow Time-Locked FSN. The other dApp on Fusion is Anyswap, and Fusion coin was the only way to get its governance token ANY. Wanchain coin (WAN) has similar use cases to FSN, it is used to pay gas fees for network transactions including Rivex and FinNexus transactions. It can also be used in the different dApps of Wanchain. Wan holders can stake their coins to earn passive income, or run nodes as validators. Wancoin will also be required to run the upcoming cross-chain storeman nodes. Ren is a protocol, not a platform, therefore, Ren token has much less use cases than FSN or WAN. The main use case of the Ren token is to run a Darknode. Around 100k Ren tokens are required to run a node, this large number has been chosen to increase the amount of locked tokens, and the effect it could have on token price. Speaking of price, let’s take a look at the current prices and market caps of the three projects and determine which coin or token offers the best buying opportunity right now. Which is the best Project to invest in? Of the three projects, Ren is the one that has been in the spotlight during the DeFi boom. Mainly because the DeFi space has been limited to Ethereum, a blockchain to which Ren provides liquidity. The current market cap of Ren is around $ 400 M, Wanchain’s market cap is around $ 54 M, and surprisingly, the market cap of Fusion is only around $ 26 M. Yes, Fusion, the decentralized cross-chain platform that offers unique DeFi features such as Time-Lock, and dApps like WeDeFi and Anyswap is the one that has currently the lowest market cap. It is without a doubt the most undervalued project of the three, but even beyond our comparison, it is one of the most undervalued cryptocurrencies in the whole market. According to CoinStats, Fusion has the second highest adoption score in the crypto space. It is a score that compares the adoption of a certain project to its market cap, it helps investors to find the projects that could potentially take off at any moment. Conclusion Fusion, Wanchain and Ren are three interesting projects working on a fully decentralized cryptographic interoperability. The other solutions that are currently available in the market include centralized custodians such WBTC, or hub and zone models such as Cosmos and Polkadot that force new chains to adopt a certain standard. The three projects in this comparison have a lot of features in common, but they are also different in some important aspects. Fusion and Wanchain are smart contracts platforms, they both have their own blockchains, and allow issuance of tokens. Ren is a protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, with RenVM as a core product. Fusion’s cross chain solution is based on the DCRM technology, it offers more integration possibilities. It is currently the only fully decentralized technology out of the three cross-chain solutions. The adoption of Fusion is increasingly growing after the launch of decentralized applications and platforms such as WeDeFi and Anyswap, and the implementation of convenient features for decentralized finance such as the Time-Lock function. Surprisingly, Fusion has the lowest market cap out of the three projects. This can be seen as an excellent opportunity to invest in a project that offers a better technology than some of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap. Sources Fusion https://www.fusion.org/ https://news.bitcoin.com/best-defi-interoperability-solutions-exploring-fusion-vs-cosmos-vs-polkadot/ https://medium.com/@kczrh/digital-assets-hit-the-wealth-management-main-stream-now-is-the-time-to-know-how-much-is-chain-fd35bb09879f https://medium.com/@fusionprotocol/dcrm-alliance-forms-and-advances-decentralized-custodian-and-interoperability-with-pilot-a3566b3ea012 https://anyswap.exchange/ https://www.newsbtc.com/press-releases/anyswap-usdt-listing-and-the-strategic-partnership-with-hotbit/ https://www.wedefi.com/ Wanchain https://www.wanchain.org/ https://medium.com/wanchain-foundation/2020-road-map-mid-year-update-d4b8ff1867f9 https://www.finnexus.io/ https://www.rivex.io/ Ren https://renproject.io/ https://medium.com/renproject/how-renvm-actually-works-c2f76a2630c4 https://medium.com/renproject/renvm-mainnet-release-plan-761f1c2c0752 This is a sponsored post. Learn how to reach our audience here. Read disclaimer below. The post Why Fusion’s DCRM is The Best Option for DeFi Users appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

South Korean police raided the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bithumb on September 2 as part of an investigation of fraud allegedly committed by the organization’s main shareholder. With the recorded number of visitors to the platform touching 4.11 million between May and July, Bithumb is the largest exchange in the country. According to a local publication, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Intelligent Crime Investigation Unit “searched and seized premises” used by the exchange as headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Police action appears to stem from the alleged investment fraud committed at the issuance of the BXA, the exchange’s native token. Media reports suggest that “investors in these tokens suffered losses” after the exchange failed to list them on its platform. The alleged investment fraud is believed to run into millions of dollars. The BXA tokens were allegedly sold to investors prior to Bithumb chairman, Lee Jung-hoon’s negotiation for the sale of the exchange with Kim Byung-gun (57), chairman of BK Group. The proposed acquisition failed to materialize. BXA victims are alleging that “Jung-hoon and others inflicted damage by not listing the token” even though the $25.2 million had been raised with an understanding that the token would be listed on the exchange. Before the raid, Jung-hoon (44), was believed to “have been under police investigations for fraud and illegally transferring funds abroad (violation of the Act on aggravated punishment for certain economic crimes).” In the meantime, Bithumb’s latest brush with authorities comes after it got slapped with an order to pay $69 million in withholding taxes in late 2019. Bithumb appealed the decision arguing that the order had been made on baseless grounds. Incidentally, the raid on Bithumb comes after law enforcement in the country raided the offices of another exchange Coinbit. Authorities allege that Coinbit has been inflating its reported traded volumes and gaining $85 million in the process. At the time of writing, the exchange platform appeared unaffected by the day’s events. What do you think of the raid on Bithumb? Tell us what you think in the comments section below. The post Major South Korean Crypto Exchange Raided by Police in Alleged $25.2M Fraud Case appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Canaan Creative, the Chinese maker of bitcoin mining hardware, reported a net loss of $2.4 million during the second quarter of 2020, down from $5.6 million in the previous quarter. It is the second consecutive quarter of narrowing losses for the firm, hit hard by falling demand amid the Covid-19-induced global recession. For the three months to June 30, revenue soared 160% to $25.2 million from $9.6 million the quarter before, driven by a near 200% increase in total computing power sold. According to Canaan’s earnings release of August 31, the Beijing-based company sold 2.6 million terahash per second (TH/s) of Bitcoin hashpower, up from 0.9 million TH/s during the first quarter. Year-over-year, total computing power sold declined 18% from 3.2 million TH/s. The Nasdaq listed stock (NASDAQ: CAN) for Canaan Inc., on September 2, 2020. Shares of Canaan fell 0.72% to $2.08 on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, at the time of writing. The stock has tumbled more than 80% since listing on the exchange last November. Then, it traded at a high of $13. Canaan chief executive officer Nangeng Zhang commented: “During the second quarter of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic continued to impact the lives of people around the world and the Bitcoin halving event also caused significant volatility in bitcoin prices.” Zhang added: We are confident that our…pipeline of next-generation products will continue to sustain our growth momentum in the future. In the review quarter, research and development expenses declined to $3.7 million from $5.9 million previously, said the firm, which manufactures the Avalon range of ASIC bitcoin mining chips. Canaan reported cash and cash equivalents of $22.2 million for the June quarter, down from $37.3 million in Q1. The company said the decline is a result of higher short-term investments, which amounted to a total of $49.2 million by the end of June. For the second quarter running, Canaan did not issue guidance for the next three trading months, citing “continued uncertainty from the rapidly changing global environment related to the Covid-19 pandemic and corresponding economic downturn.” What do you think about Canaan’s continuing losses? Let us know in the comments section below. The post Canaan Cuts Losses for Second Successive Quarter, Down To $2.4M in Q2; Demand Remains Weak appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article