roadrunner

In what some view as a landmark move, Google developers have added the bitcoin currency symbol to the iOS keyboard. The move, by a company so successful it’s evolved its domain name into a verb, reflects Bitcoin’s mainstream trajectory. Also read: 10 Years Ago Bitcoin’s Genesis Block Changed the Course of History An Unlikely Love Story: Apple, Bitcoin and a Currency Symbol The bitcoin symbol, which has seen deployed in a shortcuts app to aid Siri with command execution, is available on the Google Keyboard on iOS devices. Apple’s native keyboard does not have this functionality. Standing tall among the world’s greats, behold Google’s new bitcoin currency symbol. A Reddit user explained how to produce the key manually: “If any of you guys want to be able to type it, the Unicode code point it: U+20BF. For me, on Linux this means hitting Ctrl-Shift-U then releasing and typing 20BF or 20bf since caps don’t seem to matter which produces a nice ₿.” For Windows, another user proved just why an Android symbol would be very welcome indeed: “On windows, you first have to edit the registry. In order to enable a universal (independent of language settings) input method in Windows, one can add a string type (REG_SZ) value called EnableHexNumpad to the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Input Method and assign the value data 1 to it. Users need to log off/in on Windows 8.1/8.0, Windows 7, and Vista or reboot on earlier systems after editing the registry for this input method to start working. Then, holding ALT and typing “+20BF” should give ₿.” It’s unclear why Google has opted to add the bitcoin symbol to Apple’s interface and not yet to that of Android. Apple’s penchant for privacy is a good fit for bitcoin users, yet its wallet-gobbling insistence on proprietary software is in direct contrast to Bitcoin’s – and Google’s, for that matter – open-source nature. With most privacy-minded individuals opting for Android over iOS, it’s thus slightly ironic that the bitcoin symbol, a currency arguably geared towards the privacy-conscious, is available exclusively on iOS. Even more ironic is the fact that most iOS users tend to use the native Apple keyboard as opposed to the Google version, pointing to Google’s permissions requirement as an adoption deterrent. From Brand Recognition to Brand Adoption in a Single Keystroke If brand recognition is any indication of eventual mainstream acceptance then Google’s addition of a bitcoin currency symbol to its native iOS keyboard is a sizeable arrow pointing in the right direction. The symbol now features on the Google keyboard currency strip alongside the dollar, euro, yen, pound, Korean won, Russian ruble, Indian rupee, and the cent symbol. It’s alluring to fall into the honey trap that this spells significant news. The tech conglomerate, which under the guise of parent company Alphabet co-founder and president Sergey Brin once admitted that it “failed to be on the bleeding edge [of blockchain]” is finally coming around. That Alphabet is going Bitcoin, and then – just maybe – crypto. (Especially in light of Google’s AI defining bitcoin as a “collapsed economic bubble” or making the cryptocurrency industry the butt of a launch joke.) After all, in the period 2012-2017, Google placed second as the most active corporate investor in the blockchain space. And rumors regarding a cryptocurrency of Google’s own making have been circulating for a while, but that seems far-fetched, with Brin admitting as recently as last year that he doesn’t know “a whole lot about cryptocurrency” save for an amateur ethereum mining rig he’d set up with his son. Offering a Window Into the World’s Collective Conscious While the addition of a bitcoin currency symbol certainly shows Google isn’t turning a blind eye on the world of crypto, this latest news is unlikely to signal Alphabet’s foray into the land of cryptopia. Instead, for a company that makes billions out of listening to us ask questions, it’s only natural that they would give us what we want. According to Google Trends, the search query “What is bitcoin” was the year’s top in the U.S. and U.K. in 2018. A company that, in layman’s terms, “owns the internet” can only stay top by doing what it does best: playing host to the globe’s digital hive mind. And if that collective mind wants bitcoin, then bitcoin is what it’ll get. The ivory tower where cryptocurrency ads go to die or currency symbols to be born. Google has a significant effect on the cryptocurrency market. Unlike other movers and shakers holding the stock market in the palm of their hands, it’s primarily a content ledger, whether that content is organic or paid. Yet when the bitcoin price dropped by 11 percent after Google announced it would follow in Facebook’s footsteps and restrict the display of crypto ads in 2018 (a ban that’s since partially been lifted), it drove home the reality that Google has more of a say in crypto-land than many would like. Time will tell what cascading effect the addition of the bitcoin symbol will have in the minds of everyday iOS users. And, of course, when Android users will get to greet the new family member. What do you make of the addition of a bitcoin currency symbol to iOS? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Reddit. Do you like to research and read about Bitcoin technology? Check out Bitcoin.com’s Wiki page for an in-depth look at Bitcoin’s innovative technology and interesting history. The post Google Introduces New Bitcoin Keyboard Currency Symbol appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the years, it’s become popular to claim that you are Satoshi Nakamoto even if you lack a shred of evidence. Although some individuals have tried really hard to prove it, they have always failed to convince the greater community. For instance, a few self-proclaimed inventors of Bitcoin have attempted to generate a signature with a message hash that’s tethered to an early mined block. After a few of these occurrences, a financial transparency startup called Albacore Labs has created a tool that will validate a signature against the genesis block, making it “easier for other people to make similar claims.” Also Read: Another ‘Satoshi’ Steps Out of the Woodwork, Calls Craig Wright a Liar Crypto-Babble About Digital Signatures or Hashing Should Not Be Enough Many bitcoiners will never forget how Craig Wright tried to prove he was Satoshi Nakamoto back in 2016. It all started when the London Review of Books reporter Andrew O’Hagan spent months with Wright and allegedly saw him sign a message tied to a Satoshi Nakamoto address. There was also a series of blog posts Wright wrote that has since been scrubbed from the internet and Wright’s interaction with Gavin Andresen in London. Back in the spring of 2016 Wright also appeared on a BBC video claiming to sign a signature tethered to the first bitcoin transaction. “My name is Craig Wright and I’m about to demonstrate a signing of a message with the public key that is associated with the first transaction ever done on Bitcoin,” the Australian native stated on May 2, 2016. “So you are going to show me that Satoshi Nakamoto is you?” the BBC reporter asked at the time. “Yes,” Wright replied. Two men who have claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto but have yet to provide solid evidence. ‘Satoshin,’ left, and Craig Wright. After the show aired, veteran cryptographers quickly pointed out that the BBC reporters and Andrew O’Hagan were seemingly duped. The long-winded London Review of Books story that describes O’Hagan’s experience hanging out with Wright for months shows O’Hagan had no clue what Wright was actually signing. Moreover, well-known cryptocurrency developers like Pieter Wuille, Christopher Jeffrey and Greg Maxwell showed the public how Wright pulled off his signing parlor trick. One of the so-called Satoshi PGP keys Wright signed was provably backdated and other signature attempts have been cited as blatant forgery. Then, last year, a Twitter handle that used the name “Satoshi Nakamoto” tried to create the same signing proof with a message tied to block number 9. Finally, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developer Amaury Séchet recently shared a hash message on Twitter and claimed to be Satoshi. However, the message was clearly a joke except a few cryptocurrency news outlets ran with the story. Last November a Twitter handle called @Satoshi tried to sway the community with a signed message tethered to block 9. Now Anyone Can Prove They Are Satoshi By Signing a Message Tied to the Genesis Block Since the so-called block 9 signing, Albacore, a team that develops tools to improve financial transparency, has released an application that can tie a message to the Bitcoin genesis block so anyone can attempt to “prove they are Satoshi.” “With everyone seemingly trying to prove they are Satoshi (looking at you Craig Wright and “Faketoshi twitter”), we’ve decided to make it easier for other people to make similar claims,” explains Albacore. The startup’s Faketoshi website continues: Clicking the button below will generate a signature and message hash that will successfully validate against the address that mined the genesis block, which is known to have been mined by Satoshi. Just don’t ask for the plaintext message that generated the hash…(spoiler, we don’t know it either). Albacore’s Faketoshi tool. A Faketoshi Signing Tool Benefits the Community by Teaching Bitcoiners to Dismiss Fraudulent Behaviour In a post that describes the tool’s process, Albacore says people claiming to be Satoshi is nothing new, but Craig Wright is the most “recent cult” following. Albacore says this is due to a serious lack of technical understanding within the blockchain and bitcoin ecosystem. “This leads to situations where the merest mention of crypto-esque jargon like digital signatures or hashing is convincing enough,” the startup’s blog post explains. Albacore notes that people can see that the forged messages are clearly faked because the hash of the message is provided without the actual plaintext message. “The inputs and outputs of the ECDSA signature and verification operations. Note that in both, the input is the plaintext message that is then hashed within the boxes (the ECDSA algorithm),” explains Albacore. “So why would the scammer provide the hash of a message and not the message itself? Albacore asks within the essay, before answers its own question: “Because they do not know the message — That would involve them actually knowing the private key and generating a legitimate signature.” Albacore adds: Given the one-way nature of cryptographic hashes — The only way to verify this signature is to use a non-standard ECDSA verifier that does not internally hash the message but instead accepts the hash of the message as an input. Albacore believes the greater community needs to be more vigilant towards pretenders and faked signature attempts. This week, news.Bitcoin.com reported on another self-proclaimed Satoshi Nakamoto who called Craig Wright a “liar” and stated he could sign a real message in due time. However, just like the slew of other Faketoshis we’ve covered in the past, this one has yet to provide any real proof to the greater crypto community. To some people, these signatures are pretty much meaningless, unless the signer can provide an actual plaintext message or literally move bitcoins that were mined in the early days with a well-known Satoshi address. Even Wright’s open letter saying that he is willing to testify in front of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is worthless because none of those regulators understand this technology. Albacore says tools like the Faketoshi signing application benefit the community as a whole, so they can be more critical towards people attempting blockchain signature parlor tricks and instead “focus on things that advance the space as a whole.” What do you think about Albacore’s Faketoshi signature tool? Do you think anyone has proven themselves to be Satoshi Nakamoto with these signature tricks? What would make you believe a person is really Satoshi? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Twitter, Pixabay, Albacore, Medium, and Bitcoin.com. At news.Bitcoin.com all comments containing links are automatically held up for moderation in the Disqus system. That means an editor has to take a look at the comment to approve it. This is due to the many, repetitive, spam and scam links people post under our articles. We do not censor any comment content based on politics or personal opinions. So, please be patient. Your comment will be published. The post This ‘Faketoshi’ Signature Tool Lets Anyone Become Satoshi Nakamoto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In a 2014 appearance on the True Bromance Podcast, Gerry Cotten, the late CEO of embattled Canadian cryptocurrency exchange Quadrigacx, made comments indicating that the exchange was storing customer funds using paper wallets. Cotten also compared losing the private keys for a bitcoin wallet to “burning cash.” Also Read: Market Cap: A Flawed Ranking System for Valuing Crypto Cotten Discusses Cryptocurrency Custody During 2014 Podcast With Gerry Cotten having supposedly comprised the sole individual tasked with managing Quadrigacx’s keys, the roughly $195 million in funds owed to 115,000 of the exchange’s customers has dominated the cryptocurrency news cycle in recent weeks. While speaking on a podcast published March 12, 2014, Cotten stated that the exchange held its customers’ funds offline using paper wallets. He said: “At Quadrigacx, we’re obviously holding a bunch of bitcoins that belong to other people who have put them onto our exchange. So what we do is we actually store them offline in paper wallets, in our bank’s vault in a safety deposit box, because that’s the best way to keep the coins secure.” Quadrigacx Keys Might Be Held in Safety Deposit Box Citing the benefits of paper wallets, Cotten continued: “Essentially we put a bunch of paper wallets into the safety deposit box, remember the addresses of them. So we just send money to them, we don’t need to go back to the bank every time we want to put money into it. We just send money from our Bitcoin app directly to those paper wallets, and keep it safe that way.” Cotten asserted that the best way to store one’s private key is to ”print it off, store it offline in your safety deposit box, vault, whatever, and then take the public key, which is your address, and use that to send money to it. So that way you can never have your bitcoin stolen, unless someone, like, breaks into the bank, steals your safety deposit box and gets into your private key and so forth.” Losing Private Key Akin to ‘Burning Cash’ Quadrigacx’s cofounder compared losing the private key to bitcoin wallet to “burning cash,” adding “Even the U.S. government, with the biggest computers in the world, could not retrieve those coins if you’ve lost the private key. It’s impossible to retrieve those.” What is your opinion on the current Quadrigacx fiasco? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Quadrigacx Cold Wallet Was Stored in a Safety Deposit Box appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The central bank of Lithuania has updated its position on cryptocurrencies and tokens issued through initial coin offerings. The regulator has revised the definition of these assets specifying the conditions under which financial institutions can operate with digital money and accept crypto payments. Also read: Court Rules Brazil’s Bitcoin Max Exchange Can Keep Bank Account The Term ‘Virtual Assets’ Replaces ‘Virtual Currency’ The governing board of Bank of Lithuania, the institution responsible for the Baltic nation’s monetary policy and financial markets, has recently released an updated version of its position pertaining to digital currencies. The regulator said it has taken into account the current market developments and evolving regulatory regimes in other jurisdictions. In an announcement published on its website, Lietuvos Bankas reveals its intentions to provide all existing and potential financial market participants (FMPs) with a “level playing field.” This includes entities organizing initial coin offerings (ICOs) and businesses providing services to Lithuanian residents who want to invest in this type of financial products. Responding to general questions about cryptocurrencies, the bank now says it has substituted the term “virtual currency,” used previously in regards to digital coins, with “virtual assets.” The new policy introduces strict rules for FMPs and describes under what circumstances they can work with virtual assets, including for payments. Crypto Funds Open Only to Professional Investors The financial institution emphasizes, however, that the underlying principles of its position have remained unchanged. Bank of Lithuania notes that companies offering financial services are required to separate their main activities from those associated with virtual assets. Financial organizations are still not permitted to receive payments directly in cryptocurrency, give out crypto credits or use digital assets as collateral, except when the tokens are considered securities. The payments they accept in their accounts should only be in fiat currency to presumably limit risks associated with digital coins. On the other hand, the new policy allows these companies to receive cryptocurrency payments processed by third-party platforms that convert the amounts to local fiat. When crypto-related services are provided, risk mitigating measures such as customer identification, limited movement of the virtual assets within the FMP and coverage with traditional assets should be applied. The central bank’s updated position creates conditions for the registration of investment funds dealing with digital assets. However, these entities will be able to provide services only to professional investors. A number of such funds operate in other countries, the bank says, noting that they can do that in Lithuania too if they comply with the requirements of the country’s legislation and the bank’s guidelines. Lithuania to Allow Equity ICOs Lietuvos Bankas has also answered several questions regarding initial coin offerings (ICOs). The regulator stated that equity ICOs can be held via crowdfunding platforms and security tokens can be issued. Such activities are currently governed by country’s crowdfunding and securities laws. The offering of crypto securities to the public should also comply with the respective EU directives that have been transposed into the Lithuanian legislation. One of the requirements is to indicate the other member states where the tokens will be placed so that the bank can notify local authorities. What is your opinion about the changes in Lithuania’s regulatory policy toward cryptocurrencies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Lithuania Central Bank’s Policy Update Opens the Door for Crypto Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The cryptocurrency markets have produced several days of bullish price action, with BTC testing resistance near $4,000 for the time in five weeks today. In doing so, it’s broken the 100-day moving average for the first time in 272 days. In other market action, both BCH and ETH rallied to test resistance near $150, and EOS spiked to again rank as the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Also Read: Another ‘Satoshi’ Steps Out of the Woodwork, Calls Craig Wright a Liar BTC Tests $4,000 for First Time in 5 Weeks The cryptocurrency markets made a second bullish leg-up today, with only two of the top 50 crypto assets by market cap posting a drop in price during the last 24 hours as of this writing. BTC rallied to test resistance at the $4,000 area today, marking the first time that BTC has entered $4k territory since Jan. 10. Today’s gains were also driven by a slight uptick in volume when compared to yesterday. BTC/USD – Bitfinex – 1D In the last two weeks, BTC has gained approximately 16.25% since bouncing off local support at approximately $3,350 to currently trade for approximately $4,000 on Bitfinex and $3,900 on Bitstamp. BTC now has a market cap of $68.91 billion and a dominance of 51.50%. When looking at the stochastic RSI on the weekly chart, BTC is at its strongest since December 2017. BTC/USD StochRSI BCH and ETH Test $150 Bitcoin cash produced the second strongest gains of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap today, rallying to test $150 for the first time since Jan. 10. BCH/USD – Kraken – 1D Since bouncing off support at $100 on Feb. 18, BCH has gained 38.5% to currently trade for nearly $146. When measured against BTC, BCH is currently trading for 0.0375 BTC, an 11% gain in two days. BCH is currently the sixth largest crypto asset with a capitalization of approximately $2.61 billion and a dominance of 1.94%. BCH/BTC – Bittrex – 1D Ethereum is currently trading for $150. In the last two weeks, ETH has gained roughly 43% over the dollar after establishing support at the $100 area. ETH/USD – Bittrex – 1D When measured against BTC, ETH is currently testing resistance at the major long-term price level of 0.0375. Ethereum is the second largest crypto asset with a capitalization of $15.53 billion and a dominance of 11.62%. ETH/BTC – Bittrex – 1D XRP Attempts to Convert $0.34 Resistance Into Support Ripple has gained 11.5% in two days, with the markets currently attempting to establish support at the recent resistance area of roughly $0.34. XRP/USD – Poloniex – 1D When measured against BTC, XRP is currently trading for nearly 0.000085 BTC after gaining more than 1% in a single day for the first time during February. XRP is currently the third largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $13.86 billion and a dominance of 10.37%. XRP/BTC – Bitfinex – 1D EOS Overtakes LTC by Market Cap Of the top 50 markets by capitalization, EOS produced the strongest gains of the day, with the price of EOS increasing 16.9% over the dollar in the last 24 hours. Over the course of the last two weeks, EOS has gained nearly 55% to currently trade for $3.66. EOS/USD – Bitfinex – 1D When measured against BTC, EOS has broken above 0.0009 BTC for the time since Sep 20, 2018. Eos is currently the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a capitalization of almost $3.27 billion and a dominance of 2.44%. EOS/BTC – Bitfinex – 1D Eos’ gains have seen LTC slide one rank by market cap, with LTC currently ranked fifth with a capitalization of $2.95 billion. Despite this, LTC is testing long-term resistance at the $50 area for the first time since Nov. 14, 2018. LTC/USD – Bitfinex – 1W When measured against BTC, LTC is against testing resistance at a major long-term price area, with Litecoin currently trading for 0.012 BTC each. LTC/BTC – Bitfinex – 1W Do you think that markets will continue to be carried by bullish momentum for the rest of the week? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Tradingview Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” The post Markets Update: BTC Tests $4,000, BCH and ETH Test $150 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In Tuesday’s installment of The Daily, we begin by checking in with a couple of the leading exchanges in the cryptosphere. Kucoin has unveiled a new look and a slew of new features, while Binance is poised to launch the testnet of its long-awaited DEX. We’ll finish by examining an integration between sentiment analysis service The Tie and Trading View that will allow traders to correlate markets with moods. Also read: Indian Government Inaugurates National Crypto Forensic Lab Kucoin 2.0 Goes Live On Feb. 18, Kucoin underwent scheduled downtime to ready the exchange for a major overhaul. Upon the platform’s return, traders were greeted by a new login page, new wallet addresses, new trading engine, and new dashboard. To celebrate the upgrade, traders can enjoy zero fees for the next three days. In a tweet, CEO Michael Gan noted that his team was working to further improve the platform based on user feedback. Stablecoins have a dedicated section in the redesigned exchange, where they now nestle under a tab simply marked “SC.” The new-look Kucoin supports more order types, incorporates new APIs, and has a clearer dashboard that makes it easier for users to determine their security and account verification level. Upon logging in to the exchange for the first time since the upgrade, users will be prompted to set a trading password. Other features incorporated into Kucoin 2.0 include a tiered trading fee discount program designed to increase liquidity, and the ability for users to unilaterally freeze and unfreeze their accounts. D-Day Looms for Binance DEX Binance’s decentralized exchange (DEX) is inching closer to its public release. Tomorrow, Feb. 20, the testnet will launch ahead of the mainnet going live. In an announcement, the exchange explained: “Infrastructure-wise, the testnet of Binance Chain will start with 11 test nodes. We will test various combinations of nodes to optimize performance. While many have asked, the number and selection criteria of mainnet nodes are yet to be decided. At this stage, we simply want to develop a best-in-class DEX as fast as possible.” The DEX will launch with the Binance-owned Trust Wallet integrated, before adding support for third-party hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano S. Binance coin (BNB), which will be used as a primary trading pair and to cover fees on the DEX, has surged in price in recent weeks in the build-up to the platform’s launch. The Tie Integrates Trading View Technical analysis and sentiment analysis have traditionally been separate disciplines that haven’t easily intersected. The former entails staring at charts, while the latter requires gauging what communities are saying or “feeling” about particular assets, before taking an educated guess as to where the market is likely to move. Sentiment analysis service The Tie has now completed Trading View integration, enabling users to overlay charts from both disciplines. Its BTC chart, for example, shows sentiment closely correlated with price, but with some divergence over the last three days. Alongside the traditional Trading View dashboard are metrics such as sentiment, hourly sentiment, one-hour price projection and the accuracy of this prediction expressed as a percentage. “On top of the technical indicators Trading View already offers, The Tie has added the ability to chart 13 custom indicators including sentiment, NVT ratios, relative tweet volume, and more all on the same chart,” explained the platform. What are your thoughts on the stories in today’s news roundup? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post In the Daily: Kucoin Rebrand, Binance DEX, The Tie Adds Trading View appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The government of India has inaugurated a national cyber forensics lab which includes a cryptocurrency forensic lab to perform crypto-related analyses. Alongside this is the inauguration of the Delhi Police’s cybercrime unit which will deal with fraud involving cryptocurrencies. It is the first cybercrime awareness and detection center in the country, according to a commissioner. Also read: Indian Blockchain Summit Draws Policy Makers to Speed up Crypto Regulation Indian Government’s Crypto Forensic Lab India’s Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a national cyber forensic lab and the Delhi Police’s cybercrime unit called the Cyber Protection Awareness and Detection Center (Cypad) on Monday, The Hindu reported. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the Cypad and national forensics lab inauguration event. “It is the first cybercrime awareness and detection centre opened in the country,” Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik was quoted as saying. The national cyber forensic lab includes units such as a “memory forensics lab, image enhancement lab, network forensics lab, malware forensics lab, cryptocurrency forensics lab, damaged hard disk and advanced mobile forensics lab,” the publication wrote. Noting that the new lab will help officers detect cyberfraud, he elaborated: We are now equipped with technology to recover data from damaged hard disks, cryptocurrency analysis, malware forensic and data can be retrieved from 33,000 kinds of mobile models available in the market. Cyberexperts will train our staff. Cypad Will Deal With Crypto Fraud Both the Cypad and the national cyber forensic lab are located in the same complex in Dwarka’s Sector 16 C, according to The Hindu. The lab is part of the Union Home Ministry’s Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center. The Cypad “aims to provide cyber investigation, cyber forensics, cyber safety and security-related services to the citizens as well as to police units and agencies of Delhi,” the publication detailed. “The centre in Dwarka will provide security services to citizens, cops and other agencies to better equip the country in the fight against cybercrime.” Minister Singh said that cybercrime is the “biggest threat to digital India,” the news outlet conveyed. He further emphasized that Cypad “will deal with cryptocurrency fraud and international tech-supported frauds,” Devdiscourse publication noted. On Sunday, The Times of India reported that the city crime branch has busted a gang allegedly involved in a crypto scam that duped investors an estimated Rs 100 crore (~$14 million). What do you think of the Indian government’s crypto forensic lab? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Government Inaugurates National Crypto Forensic Lab appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Feb. 8, the chief executive of Nchain, Craig Wright, wrote a blog post that purportedly described his experience of creating Bitcoin. Wright’s essay states “I was Satoshi” but throughout the story, he refuses to reveal his keys. It’s not the first time Wright has claimed to be Satoshi, but in the comment section of his blog post, another character calls him a “liar” and claims that he is in fact the real Satoshi Nakamoto. Also Read: Bitmain Announces New 7nm Bitcoin Mining Chip With 29% More Efficiency So Many Satoshis With Zero Proof It is difficult to figure out why someone would claim to be Satoshi without having the smoking gun that proves they are the creator of Bitcoin. Nevertheless, there’s been a number of self-professed Satoshis, but all of them have yet to convince the greater community. Craig Wright is probably the most famous of them all but news.Bitcoin.com has reported on various individuals who wholeheartedly believe they were involved with the creation of Bitcoin. Recently, the notorious Wright has been writing memoirs about his experience in the early days when he allegedly invented the protocol. One specific post called “Careful what you wish for…” is one of the most telling tales he’s written in a while and the post caught a lot of flak from the community. Most of the antagonism towards it was because Wright stated he was Satoshi but also declared he does not have to prove it. Wright has also been criticized for speaking negatively about Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks. This man believes he is Satoshi Nakamoto. After the post was published, readers noticed another person in the essay’s comment section calling Wright a liar and claiming to be Satoshi Nakamoto. “Liar — You, Dr. Craig Wright never had any digital key to sign, and no single proof of his claims — He could not even transact one bitcoin from my whale wallet,” explains the individual who believes he is Satoshi. “He did create an altcoin, BSV, then begged to convert bitcoin core into his crapcoin — Come on, you have nothing. You do not even know how I composed the genesis block and what I coded inside additionally.” The commenter continues: Yes, I do remember You, when You did try to trick me and ask me for a subkey. (Well, that was a dead end, I was warned by Hal about you.) Yes, I do remember our little IRC chat. And Your addiction to the dark world and the flattering of ego. PGP Key 0x5EC948A1 The person also remarks by saying that when he digitally signs, he will show the world a registered, notary depot of his scientific paper (before the publication date on the internet) and the contents of the genesis block. Furthermore, the commenter left behind his Twitter handle @realsatoshin where he’s been telling people he is Satoshi for quite some time. The individual has 2,800 followers has tweeted publicly over 1,700 times. Many of the tweets declare he is the real Satoshi and explain that he will present himself in seven years. In the comment to Craig Wright, the person leaves the PGP key 0x5EC948A1 and explains that it was signed by Gavin and others in that time. The individual has been tweeting about being Satoshi for quite some time. Looking at the PGP key 0x5EC948A1 shows some interesting data and fingerprints that are tied to an email address Satoshin@gmx.com and other Satoshi related email handles. There are also a few unique dates tied to the PGP key’s data like Oct. 30, 2008, the day before the white paper published, and Jan. 3, 2009 the day the genesis block was born. Another interesting aspect to the key is it shows a revocation on May 2, 2016, the exact same day Gavin Andresen’s keys were revoked by Core developer Wladimir van der Laan. The PGP Key 0x5EC948A1 is tethered to the email Satoshin@GMX.com and a few others. The PGP key has interesting fingerprints and dates associated with it. On Jan. 6 the individual who believes he is Satoshi explained that he left the project for safety reasons and to protect the project. “A decentralized system needs no controllers and rulers, only the community,” he explained to his Twitter followers. The “Satoshin” character has also made numerous comments on other editorials detailing how he created the cryptocurrency and encoded his name into the chain. He also uses the name ‘nihsotas’ on Reddit and was very much involved in the discussion between the community and Gavin Andresen back in May 2016. The Song Remains the Same: ‘Keys or GTFO’ The news also follows Craig Wright’s open letter to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) concerning the regulation of tokens and the Ethereum network. It seems Wright is willing to testify under oath that he was, in fact, the creator of Bitcoin. “My name is Dr. Craig Wright and under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto I completed a project I started in 1997 that was filed with the Australian government in part under an AusIndustry project registered with the Dept. of Innovation as Blacknet,” explains the Australian native. So far the community is hard set on only believing a person who signs Satoshi’s early keys and that goes for any self-proclaimed Bitcoin creator. “Keys or get the fuck out” is a common statement among crypto proponents, whereas so-called “easter eggs” and comments like “maybe I’ll tell you later” just doesn’t cut the mustard. The crypto community doesn’t believe the latest individual either. Even though he called Wright a liar, bitcoiners believe the new claimant is just another Wright clone fabricating tall tales, no different than the likes of Paul Bunyan. What do you think about the individual who claims to be Satoshi and his 0x5EC948A1 PGP keys? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, MIT PGP Database, and Twitter. At news.Bitcoin.com all comments containing links are automatically held up for moderation in the Disqus system. That means an editor has to take a look at the comment to approve it. This is due to the many, repetitive, spam and scam links people post under our articles. We do not censor any comment content based on politics or personal opinions. So, please be patient. Your comment will be published. The post Another ‘Satoshi’ Steps Out of the Woodwork, Calls Craig Wright a Liar appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Police in Mumbai have busted a gang allegedly involved in a cryptocurrency scam that amassed an estimated 1 billion rupees (nearly $14 million). The gang targeted people by launching a cryptocurrency called Cashcoin and sold it to investors, promising to double their money. Also Read: Indian Blockchain Summit Draws Policy Makers to Speed up Crypto Regulation An Intention to Cheat Four people have been arrested in relation to the scam, which saw investors swindled out of nearly $14 million. The Times of India reports that those arrested are Sanjay Sontakke, 44; Rajnikant Kumavat, 46; Alpesh Barodia, 32; and Kirankumar Panchsara, 38. The four suspects allegedly launched Cashcoin a year ago, with the inspector involved in the case, Sunil Jadhav, quoted as saying: “The accused held meetings in Mumbai, Surat and other parts of Gujarat, and lured people into investing their hard-earned money by promising to double it in two months.” He added: Initially, the gang repaid a few investors to lure more people in and then defaulted. Their intention was to cheat. The offences drawn up by the police include cheating, breach of trust, criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act. The complaint was initially lodged by a resident of Surat who alleged that 10.2 million rupees ($145,000) were stolen from him. Police are in the process of freezing a number of bank accounts in the country as part of the investigation. The Times reports that the police are still looking for a fifth suspect, Ashok Goyal, who reportedly played a key role in the alleged scam but is on the run. Hostile Crypto Environment The scam shows that even in India, where the government has been slow to come up with a crypto regulatory framework and where digital assets have historically been illegal, crypto scams can be successful. The crypto climate in India is hostile – the central and state governments are continuing to crackdown on crypto businesses, while authorities have been constantly warning investors against investing in cryptocurrencies. Banks in India have even stopped servicing crypto exchanges in the country. A scam of this nature and magnitude risks leaving the public even warier of cryptocurrencies. There is evidence, however, that cryptocurrency adoption is moving in the right direction in India. Its crypto community has been campaigning on social media for “positive regulations” and the rollback of the banking ban, and the country’s Supreme Court is due to hear the petitions against the cryptocurrency ban by the country’s central bank. These moves will hopefully ease the world’s seventh largest economy closer to accepting cryptocurrencies, for the benefit of its 1.34 billion people. What do you think about the Cashcoin crypto scam and others of this nature? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Police Arrest ‘Cashcoin’ Gang Accused of Scamming Millions From Investors appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Drivechain developer Paul Sztorc has the cryptocurrency community riled up over his latest blog “Security Budget in the Long Run.” The essay discusses the economics of BTC network fees over a long period of time and suggests rather than giving up the fees to competition, a dominant protocol should collect fees “from all networks.” Also Read: More Than 30% of BTC Traffic Stems from the Veriblock Project Unraveling Bitcoin’s Security Budget Paul Sztorc has written another thought-provoking essay that has got many of the ‘bitcoin intellectuals’ talking. “Security Budget in the Long Run” speaks on how BTC could theoretically collect fees after many decades. Sztorc refers to this as the “security budget,” which is basically what participants are paying in order to prevent double spends and 51 percent attacks. Over the last few years during the scaling debate, many industry members showed concern about the block subsidy i.e the freshly minted coins and transaction fees miners get when they randomly find a block. A block needs to be instantly profitable to mine and Sztorc believes the block subsidy will continue to give the network more security in the future. “Even though it “halves” once every four years (effectively falling by a factor of 0.84 per year), it hits for full force no matter how high the BTC exchange rate climbs,” Sztorc’s paper explains. “As long as annual appreciation 19%+, it fully compensates for the PP lost to the halvening.” A graphical interpretation of BTC’s security budget over the next 40 years according to Sztorc’s essay “Security Budget in the Long Run.” Sztorc then discussed the various theories people have used in the past, in order to describe what will offset the block subsidy when the block reward shrinks to zero. Many believe a relatively high fee market is needed for onchain transactions (txn) and most people wanting txn with cheaper fees will use the Lightning Network. For instance, Sztorc quotes the Bitcoin Core developer Greg Maxwell and other crypto luminaries for championing high fees back in 2017. The paper also underscores the rise of altcoins grabbing far more attention after BTC network fees crossed over $1 per txn and continued to rise. “Furthermore, this (true) premise — that Altcoin-payments are indeed substitutes for Bitcoin-payments — is occasionally explicitly admitted, even by hardcore maximalists — Especially during the last fee run-up in late 2017,” Sztorc’s paper details. The essay further states: To me, this data refutes the theory that users will pay high BTC fees willingly. In fact, they seem to have only ever paid high fees unwillingly — during a brief “bubble” time (of relative panic and FOMO). Bitcoin developer, economist, and Drivechain creator Paul Sztorc. Lightning and Alternative Fee Sources The blockchain researcher further digresses into theories of onboarding users onto the Lightning Network (LN) and the protocol’s theoretical alternative fee sources. Sztorc says that if the LN is successful then many transactions can be crammed into two onchain transactions. However, Sztorc has a hard time understanding how the LN will boost fees and guesses that they “cannot realistically increase by more than two orders of magnitude.” After detailing theories people have on how the LN can create a thriving economic system, Sztorc’s new paper details that he doesn’t have much faith in the user experience. “LN also comes with new risks — the LN-design is very clever at minimizing these risks, but they are still there and will still be annoying to users,” Sztorc notes. “Users will prefer not to put up with them — So they will tend to prefer an Altcoin on-chain-txn over a mainchain-LN-txn.” Some crypto enthusiasts didn’t like Sztorc’s opinion concerning the LN’s usability, while some described the LN user experience as being not even close to onchain payments. Merged Mining and Sidechains Sztorc concludes his paper by discussing two of his favorite subjects — merged mining and sidechains. Essentially the programmer says merge mined sidechains can do whatever altcoins can do and then some. Concepts like Drivechain could theoretically create large block sidechains that process millions of transactions per day. Sztorc’s paper says the Bitcoin network needs a high-security budget in order to prevent 51 percent attacks. In a sense, alternative chains will subdue the chances of a market-clearing fee rate, especially when higher fees begin to dominate and start showing signs of time dependency. Sztorc’s paper emphasizes how competition will make it difficult for BTC to collect miner fees and instead every network in existence should be a subsidy for BTC. “A better way, is to attempt to devour the entire payments market and claim all of its fee revenues,” Sztorc concedes. “This can be done using merge mined Sidechains, without any decentralization loss.” Of course, not everyone agreed with Sztorc’s assessment concerning long term security for the BTC network. After the founder of Coinmetrics, Nic Carter called the paper a “stunner” and “outstanding as usual,” many other developers and crypto luminaries threw in their two cents. BTC developer Eric Lombrozo said the essay was a “good read” but is “still very concerned about the economics of sidechains remaining viable unless we substantially alter the trust model.” Sztorc emphasized on Twitter that the post describes competition with altcoins and not traditional payment networks. A few bitcoiners responding were very stubborn, wholeheartedly insisting that a relatively high fee market is necessary to subsidize miners and higher fees will also mean BTC is successful. Veteran cryptographer Nick Szabo emphasized that he believes there are a few “bad assumptions” in Sztorc’s post. Szabo detailed that he has only seen one good argument for security under a transaction fee-only system. “That’s the volatility of fees, which seem to behave nonlinearly as blocks become full,” explained Szabo. Sztorc’s article sparked a lot of criticism and conversation about the subject. The many responses to Sztorc’s paper underlined the fact that BTC developers and maximalist proponents are still dead set on growing the fee market and LN solutions. It doesn’t seem like merged mined sidechains will be accepted anytime soon, unless it is enforced in a permissionless manner. Currently, a few alternative chains piggyback off of BTC in some form or another like Counterparty, Omnilayer, RSK, and Veriblock and there are more projects like the Stacks blockchain on the horizon. Core developers have been stubborn about Drivechain for quite some time and the issues stem from a deep distrust of miners. This is ironic given that their work is what secures the network and defines Nakamoto consensus. What do you think about Paul Sztorc’s post concerning block subsidy and BTC’s security over the long run? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Twitter, Pixabay, and Paul Sztorc’s paper. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Drivechain Creator’s Latest Paper Sparks Debate Over Bitcoin’s Future Security appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A survey has determined that advertisers believe the word “blockchain” to have been the most overrated of 2018. This is hardly a surprise as many companies from fields completely unrelated to cryptocurrency claimed to use or test blockchain technology last year with little to show for it. Also Read: In the Daily: Shapeshift Beta, Coinsquare Acquisition, Grayscale Investment Report Most Overrated Word of 2018 A recently released study for Media Post’s Research Intelligencer, which interviewed 120 marketers and 181 ad agency executives in January 2019, was conducted to find out what words or terms were given too much weight in the advertising industry last year. 26 percent of participants picked “blockchain” as the most overrated word of 2018, giving it the number one spot in the survey. “Blockchain consumed a disproportionate share of industry conversations in 2018, which may be one of the reasons it was also named the most overrated word of the year by ad execs surveyed by Advertiser Perceptions,” stated Media Post’s editor in chief Joe Mandese. Second place was shared between “AI” and “programmatic,” with 19 percent each. An abbreviation for crypto-assets and related ventures, “crypto,” came in at third place with 12 percent. Further, according to the survey, advertisers, with 31 percent, were more likely to think “blockchain” is overrated than ad agencies at just 22 percent. Corporate Marketing Hype The results of the survey seem to confirm that advertisers know that many companies abused the term “blockchain” just to get free media hype. Last month it was reported that management consulting firm McKinsey determined that of over 100 supposed use cases for blockchain presented, the vast majority of pilots and proofs of concept were still stuck in “pioneering mode” or were being shut down. Research Intelligencer explains that it fielded the survey following the Association of National Advertisers’ release of its annual words of the year, “brand purpose”, and in order to measure how the rest of the ad industry thinks. Besides the most overrated terms, it also found that the most important word of the year was “transparency” with “influencer” ranked second. Additionally, AI is expected to be the most important term in the ad industry for 2019 according to the executives it surveyed. What do you think about this survey’s results regarding the term ‘blockchain’? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Survey: ‘Blockchain’ Was Most Overrated Buzzword of 2018 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A wallet address, comprising a string of 26-35 alphanumeric characters, is all it takes to send and receive bitcoin. Any bitcoin address can be used to transfer cryptocurrency to any other address on the network, provided the sender’s wallet software supports that address type. With multiple address formats to choose from, and wallet providers and exchanges only supporting certain address types, it pays to familiarize yourself with the differences. Also read: Bitcoin Cash-Focused Ifwallet Implements Cash Accounts Name System Address Formats Are the Internet Protocol of Bitcoin Just as there are multiple versions of the Internet Protocol, such as IPv4 and IPv6, there are multiple bitcoin address formats. Most of the time, these don’t come into conflict with one another, with transactions zipping seamlessly across the network between custodial and non-custodial wallets. There are three Bitcoin Core address formats to choose from, P2PKH, P2SH, and bech32, with only a handful of service providers supporting all of them. There’s a good chance your preferred wallet or exchange doesn’t support at least one of these formats, with bech32 the likeliest to be omitted. Learning the pros, cons and quirks of each address format will enable you to choose a compatible bitcoin wallet, exchange or platform. It will also furnish you with a deeper knowledge of Bitcoin’s inner workings, and reveal the trade-offs that come with each format in terms of security, flexibility and functionality. P2PKH or Legacy Address Format If your bitcoin address starts with a 1, you’re using a P2PKH or legacy address, for example 1BvBMSEYstWetqTFn5Au4m4GFg7xJaNVN2. This was Bitcoin’s original address format and it still works faithfully to this day. P2PKH, incidentally, stands for Pay-to-Pubkey Hash i.e pay to a hash of the recipient’s public key. Legacy addresses are not segwit compatible, but you can still send BTC from a P2PKH address to a segwit address without any problems. The average fee when sending from a P2PKH address is likely to be higher than when sending from a segwit address, however, because legacy address transactions are larger in size. P2SH Address Format P2SH addresses are structured similarly to P2PKH, but start with a 3 instead of a 1, for example 3J98t1WpEZ73CNmQviecrnyiWrnqRhWNLy. P2SH, which stands for pay to script hash, enables more elaborate functionality than legacy addresses. The P2SH script function is most commonly used for multisig addresses which can specify, for example, that multiple digital signatures are required to authorize the transaction. This address format is also used to enable non-native segwit transactions using a process known as P2WPKH-in-P2SH. The average person sending and receiving coins doesn’t need to concern themselves with the more complex functionality that the P2SH format can bestow: all that matters is that this address type is widely supported and can be used to send funds to both P2PKH and bech32 addresses. Bech32 Address Format Bech32 addresses look distinctly different from the P2-style addresses. Each one starts with “bc1” and is longer than a legacy or P2SH address on account of this prefix. Bech32 is the native segwit address format, and is supported by the majority of software and hardware wallets, but a minority of exchanges. Ledger and Keepkey wallets currently don’t support bech32, for instance, and while most exchanges enable sending funds to bech32 addresses, they don’t enable users to receive them with this format. At present, less than 1 percent of BTC is stored in bech32 addresses, although this number is increasing slowly. Bech32 adoption Bitcoin Cash Address Formats Bitcoin Cash addresses can follow either the legacy format (which starts with a 1) or more commonly the Cash Address (Cash Addr) format. It’s based on bech32 and starts with ‘q’ or ‘bitcoincash:q’. BCH wallets can support both formats, with tools enabling users to switch between Cash Addr and legacy formats. The primary reason for using the Cash Addr format is to distinguish BCH from BTC and thereby prevent funds being sent to the wrong address. Which BTC and BCH address formats do you most commonly use? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and P2sh.info. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Everything You Should Know About Bitcoin Address Formats appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Feb. 18, mining rig manufacturing giant Bitmain Technologies announced its next-generation 7nm ASIC chip for mining SHA-256 cryptocurrencies like BTC and BCH. According to Bitmain, the mining chip, called the BM1397, is more efficient when mining proof of work (PoW) coins and the new chips will be installed in the latest Antminer series of devices. Also Read: Orca Pool Mining Operation Aims to Defend Altcoins and Forks From Attacks The Next Generation 7nm Chip From Bitmain Technologies Bitmain has announced a new mining chip that claims to be more effective than the semiconductors the company manufactured in the past. The new BM1397 chip is the successor to Bitmain’s previous SHA-256-centric chip, the BM1391. The revamped 7nm model “enables faster and cheaper mining” and offers a 28.6 percent improvement compared to the BM1391. Bitmain says the BM1397 uses low amounts of power and provides an energy consumption to computing ratio as low as 30J/TH. The new BM1397 7nm semiconductor produced by Bitmain and TSMC. “To achieve [better efficiency], Bitmain’s engineering team has thoroughly customized the chip design to optimize its architecture, circuit, and economics,” explains the company’s press release. It continues: The chip is made using TSMC’s 7nm FinFET process — The BM1397 is a testament to Bitmain’s improvements in chip design methodology and deep understanding of the most advanced semiconductor fabrication technologies. Bitmain also revealed it was manufacturing new Antminer models that will be announced at a later date. Antminer S17 and T17 Models Will Support the New BM1397 and More Mining Rigs Are on the Way The chip announcement follows recent rumors and discussions about the floundering mining ecosystem. Many reports have also detailed company shakeups with firms like Bitmain, Canaan, and Ebang making internal changes. Bitmain says the new semiconductor is proof of the company’s ongoing commitment to advancing the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The company’s announcement underscores that Bitmain devices allow anyone to participate in this fast growing economy. “The BM1397, part of Bitmain’s growing chip portfolio, is designed to bring a better mining experience and aims to set a new benchmark in ASIC chip technology,” the company notes. According to the press release, the BM1397 chip will be integrated into the latest Antminer S17 and T17 models. Moreover, Bitmain says the company has new devices that will be announced at a later date. What do you think about the latest announcement from Bitmain Technologies and the new BM1397 chip? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Bitmain, and Bitcoin.com. At news.Bitcoin.com all comments containing links are automatically held up for moderation in the Disqus system. That means an editor has to take a look at the comment to approve it. This is due to the many, repetitive, spam and scam links people post under our articles. We do not censor any comment content based on politics or personal opinions. So, please be patient. Your comment will be published. The post Bitmain Announces New 7nm Bitcoin Mining Chip With 29% More Efficiency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Many cryptocurrencies rose and fell during the 2017 bull market and subsequent year of bearish retracement. While the top four crypto assets by market cap have remained the same over the last two years, more than half of the leading markets as of Feb. 19, 2017 have since fallen from the top 15. Also Read: Markets Update: Cryptocurrencies Bullish Following Possible Higher Lows 2017’s Top 4 Markets Retain Their Ranking Today Despite the extreme volatility of the cryptocurrency markets over the last two years, the top four ranked by market cap has not changed. BTC has grown from a $16.5 billion market as of Feb. 19, 2017 to $65.29 billion today, with the price rising 252% from nearly $1,050 to $3,700 in 24 months. ETH recently reclaimed its rank as the second largest market by capitalization, with ethereum’s market cap rising from almost $1.14 billion to over $14.36 billion over the last two years. The price of a single ETH has risen 1,030% from $12.76 to roughly $144 on Feb. 18, 2019. XRP comprises the third largest crypto asset, with a market cap that has risen from nearly $218 million during Feb. 2017 to $12.69 billion today. Of the leading markets, ripple has generated the largest price gains, rising approximately 5,150% from $0.0059 to $0.31 in two years. A recent rally has seen LTC reclaim the fourth largest cryptocurrency capitalization, which has grown from roughly $187.6 million two years ago to $2.67 billion today. The price of litecoin has gained 1,100% from $3.76 to $45. Monero, Dash, and Ethereum Classic Fall From Top 10 As of Feb. 18, 2017, XMR comprised the fifth largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $181.24 million, with a single monero trading for $12.99. Monero now comprises the 13th largest market with a capitalization of $818 million and has seen a two-year price gain of roughly 285%, with XMR currently trading for nearly $50 each. In two years, dash has fallen from sixth with a market cap of $160.34 million to rank 15th with a market cap of $697.44 million today. The price of dash has gained 266% from $22.55 on Feb. 19th, 2017, to $82.50 as of this writing. ETC was the seventh ranked cryptocurrency with a market cap of $108.83 million 24 months ago as ethereum classic traded for $1.22 each. Today, ETC is the 18th largest crypto asset with a capitalization of $220.25 million and is trading for approximately $4.20, up 244% from early 2017. MAID and ICN Produce 24-Month Price Drop While the top seven markets by capitalization of two years ago have since posted triple figure or greater returns, several of 2017’s top-ranked markets are now priced lower than they were 24 months ago. Two years ago, maidsafecoin was trading for $0.19 and ranked eighth by market cap with a capitalization of nearly $86.43 million. Since then, the price MAID has fallen 37% to currently trade for less $0.12 and is ranked 69th with a market cap of $53.46 million. Nem has fallen from being the ninth ranked crypto asset with a market cap of approximately $57.17 million to currently comprise the 19th largest cryptocurrency with a capitalization of $373.63 million. Despite sliding in market cap ranking, the price of XEM has risen from roughly $0.0063 two years ago to more than $0.042 today, a 566% gain in 24 months. The 10th largest cryptocurrency as of Feb. 19th, 2017, augur, now comprises the 35th ranked market by capitalization, despite augur’s market cap growing from $57.09 million to $152.59 million. The price of REP has gained 169% from $5.19 to $13.95 in the past two years. Of 2017’s leading markets, iconomi has produced the greatest decline in market cap, falling from the 11th largest crypto asset with a capitalization of more than $30.21 million to currently comprise the 198th ranked cryptocurrency with a market cap of $12.9 million. The price of ICN has also fallen 74% from nearly $0.35 to $0.09. Tether Is the Sole Cryptocurrency to Ascend Market Cap Rankings Since 2017 Despite sliding from ranking 12th by market cap to 70th, factom has seen a significant gain in price and market cap. In 24 months, factom has grown from $28.67 million to $52.88 million, while the price of FCT has gained 83% from $3.28 to roughly $6. In two years, steem has gone from the 13th largest crypto asset with a capitalization of $27.92 million to 48th with $102.40 million. The price of steem has gained 167% from $0.12 to over $0.32 today. Since February 2017, tether is the only cryptocurrency to have ascended in market cap ranking, moving from 14th with a capitalization of $24.95 million to rank 7th with a market cap of nearly $2.03 billion. As of Feb. 19, 2017, waves was the 15th ranked crypto asset with a capitalization of $24.09 million and was trading for $0.24 each. Two years later, waves is ranked 21st with a market cap of nearly $268 million and is trading for $2.68 after generating a 1,015% price gain in 24 months. How many of the current leading markets do you expect will retain a top ranking by market cap in 2021? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page. The post Most of 2017’s Leading Cryptocurrencies by Market Cap Have Crashed Out of the Top 15 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this edition of The Daily we cover the beta launch of a new platform from Shapeshift, an acquisition by one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Canada – Coinsquare – and the latest Grayscale digital asset investment report. Also Read: Startups-Focused Law Firm Now Accepts Bitcoin Cash Payments Shapeshift Unveils Beta Noncustodial crypto changing service Shapeshift is opening signups for a beta trial of its new combined user interface which incorporates a number of services. CEO Erik Voorhees tweeted: “The new ShapeShift is at beta.shapeshift.com. We built it to give the world a true non-custodial crypto platform in an easy and beautiful package. This is the foundation for financial self-sovereignty.” The new platform is part of an overall update to Shapeshift’s brand and user interface. The company updated its logo, typeface, color palette and imagery earlier this month. Its new visual style is said to be influenced by the art deco, futurism and constructivist art movements. In a blog post the team explained that “These 20th Century art movements also had a significant influence on literature. In particular, futurists such as George Orwell, Ayn Rand, and Aldous Huxley (all of which believed in a decentralized future). We feel this is a nice subconscious tie to Shapeshift.” Coinsquare Acquisition One of the leading digital asset exchanges in Canada, Coinsquare, recently announced it has acquired Stellarx, a trading app and decentralized exchange. The move comes on the heels of Coinsquare’s December 2018 acquisition of Blockeq, which will be rebranded to become the anchor wallet for the decentralized platform. Stellarx will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Coinsquare, based in Bermuda, and will look to apply with regulators there to become licensed to operate and scale its offering under Coinsquare’s compliance guidance. Megha Bambra, Blockeq cofounder, will now lead Stellarx and her new team of Toronto-based developers will continue to build the service according to the product roadmap announced last fall. It is said that in time they will also add features that weren’t possible under Stellarx’s previous leadership such as new fiat tethers and securities tokens. In their last blog post, the Stellarx team commented that: “Coinsquare is the perfect fit. They are already the leading Canadian cryptocurrency platform. They have very close relationships with regulators in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. The Bank of Montreal is their banking partner.” Grayscale Investment Report Grayscale Investments, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group which offers trusts for BTC, BCH, ETH, ETS, XRP, ZEC, and LTC, recently released its 2018 Grayscale Digital Asset Investment Report, detailing activity across its line of products for last year. The report shows that in spite of the ongoing crypto winter, Grayscale raised almost $360 million of investment into its products in 2018, marking its strongest fundraising year yet with nearly triple the total capital that was raised in 2017. The team wrote: “Despite a deceleration of investment into digital assets in the fourth quarter, Grayscale raised $30.1 million over the last three months, bringing our full year 2018 inflows to $359.5 million. This marks the strongest calendar year inflows since the inception of our business. The full year inflows of $359.5 million were nearly 3X those recorded during the 2017 digital asset bull market and nearly 2X the inflows from previous four years combined (2014-2017), demonstrating that long-term investors remain bullish independent of the recent price action.” What do you think about today’s news tidbits? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post In the Daily: Shapeshift Beta, Coinsquare Acquisition, Grayscale Investment Report appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The cryptocurrency markets have enjoyed a day of significant bullish action, with only four of the top 80 crypto assets by capitalization posting a 24-hour loss as of this writing. ETH was the strongest performing leading market, comprising the only cryptocurrency in the top 25 by market cap to post a double-digit gain for the day. Also Read: Regulators Explain Why Bitcoin Futures Are Easier to Approve Than Bitcoin ETFs BCH and BTC Hold Above 2018 Lows After six weeks of sideways consolidation, many leading cryptocurrencies are testing local resistance areas after avoiding a retest of December’s lows. When measuring from December’s low to the peak of the immediately ensuing bounce play, bitcoin cash is currently testing resistance at the 0.618% Fibonacci retracement area (approximately $130) after establishing support at the 0.786% retracement zone (roughly $100). BCH/USD – Kraken – 1D BCH/BTC price is also testing resistance at the local 0.618% Fibonacci area after establishing support at 0.786%, with BCH currently trading for nearly 0.035 BTC. Bitcoin cash is the sixth largest cryptocurrency market with a capitalization of $2.31 billion and a dominance of 1.83%. BCH/BTC – Bittrex – 1D BTC has also posted a potential higher low after establishing support at the 0.786% retracement area. The bounce off the $3,400 area has seen BTC oscillate between the 0.618% and 0.5% retracement zones, with 1 BTC currently trading for roughly $3,700 on Bitstamp and $3,800 on Bitfinex. BTC/USD – Bitstamp – 1D Bitcoin core currently has a market cap of $65.8 billion and a dominance of 52.1%. ETH Gains More Than 10% in 24 Hours After starting 2019 with a test of resistance at the $160 area, ETH produced approximately four weeks of bearish momentum, before bouncing off resistance just above the 0.786% area at $100. Since then, ETH has gained almost 35% over the dollar, with the price of ethereum currently hovering just below the 0.236% retracement area at nearly $140. ETH/USD – Bitstamp – 1D When measured against BTC, ETH is testing resistance at the 0.236% retracement area of 0.037 BTC after having established support between the 0.786% and 0.618% Fibonacci area above 0.03 BTC at the start of the month. ETH/BTC – Poloniex – 1D Ethereum is currently the second largest crypto asset with a market cap of $14.58 billion and a dominance of 11.53%. Do you think the bear trend has bottomed out or is more bloodshed still to come? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, markets.Bitcoin.com, Tradingview Disclaimer: Price articles and markets updates are intended for informational purposes only and should not to be considered as trading advice. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses or gains, as the ultimate decision to conduct a trade is made by the reader. Always remember that only those in possession of the private keys are in control of the “money.” The post Markets Update: Cryptocurrencies Bullish Following Possible Higher Lows appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Commissioners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have come together to discuss their regulatory approaches to bitcoin futures contracts and bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The two regulators are also open to collaborating on their oversight of crypto investment products. Also read: Indian Supreme Court Moves Crypto Hearing, Community Calls for Positive Regulations CFTC Regulating Bitcoin Futures At a Bipartisan Policy Center event entitled “The Year Ahead for Capital Markets” last week, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce and CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz discussed their agencies’ approaches to regulating crypto investment products. Explaining his agency’s oversight of bitcoin futures contracts listed by Cboe Futures Exchange and CME Group, Quintenz stated: We have a process in the Commodity Exchange Act that allows the exchanges to self-certify a contract if they believe it meets the requirements of the Act. He elaborated that the CFTC has a “review period in which we can say no we disagree with you and here’s why, but if we don’t disagree, [then] they have the opportunity to go ahead and self-certify that contract.” He noted that both of the above “exchanges pursue that self-certification [route] so these contracts get listed without our approval but also without our disapproval.” The commissioner also revealed, “Our jurisdiction over those contracts requires that they not be readily susceptible to manipulation … in any capacity,” adding that there is also the “question of how easily can we discover it and usually it’s very easily.” SEC Reluctant to Approve Bitcoin ETF SEC Commissioner Peirce, sometimes known as “crypto mom” within the Bitcoin community, said that “At the SEC we’ve been unwilling to … sign off on a bitcoin ETF, an exchange-traded product based on bitcoin,” voicing: My concern about our approach in that area is it looks a little bit like a merit-based approach judging the underlying bitcoin markets. Contradicting her agency’s view that bitcoin markets are not regulated enough, Peirce argued that “there are lots of markets that aren’t regulated but we nevertheless build products on top of them.” She concluded, “I think we have to be very careful with that kind of reasoning.” Her statement echoes a similar one she made in August last year when she explained that the SEC “looked through to the underlying asset [bitcoin] … and raised some concerns about the market for that underlying product.” Crypto mom believes that “by doing that they went beyond what the statute allows us to do and we should have really focused on the market where the exchange-traded product would trade as opposed to focusing on the underlying bitcoin markets.” Commodities vs. Securities Quintenz proceeded to describe significant differences between securities and commodities, stating: We only have fraud and enforcement jurisdiction over the commodity space. Our oversight jurisdiction is over the commodity derivatives space, so the trading of commodities themselves like things like Ebay we don’t have any type of oversight over that. He emphasized that having no oversight is “not necessarily a bad thing” if trading platforms “can implement a free-market approach” to solve problems such as market manipulation. “Because of our lack of statutory oversight capability, I’ve suggested that these platforms come together to form some type of self-regulatory structure where they can discuss, agree to, implement, and hopefully examine or audit themselves.” In addition, he clarified that these platforms can set standards themselves “however they view is appropriate … from conflicts of interest, business conduct, insider trading, redemptions, custody, liquidity…” SEC and CFTC Open to Collaborating Peirce was also asked whether she thought that “the SEC and other regulators generally take a too-restrictive approach to cryptocurrencies” and whether “regulation in this area [is] burdensome.” She replied that restrictive may not be the word she would use, but rather it is “too confusing.” She proceeded to say that this is “an area where I think Brian and I are interested in working together,” elaborating: There [are] questions about where your jurisdiction ends and ours begins and again we don’t want to have overlap there so you know my main concern has been that I think we need to do a better job providing guidance. What do you think of the differences between how the CFTC and SEC approach bitcoin investment products? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Regulators Explain Why Bitcoin Futures Are Easier to Approve Than Bitcoin ETFs appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

U.S.-based Shift Card, a Visa debit card service that allows people to spend cryptocurrencies held on Coinbase in real-time, will be ceasing operations this April. Shift’s email to customers explains the company hopes to relaunch in the near future, but for now there are few crypto debit card options left for U.S. residents. Also Read: More Than 30% of BTC Traffic Stems from the Veriblock Project Shift Financial’s Crypto-to-Debit Services to End This Spring Shift Card customers have received an email that explains the company has plans to close its debit card operations this spring. According to the email, the company will temporarily shut down on April 11, 2019, but the firm hopes to relaunch again. The Shift Card launched in the fourth quarter of 2015, allowing people to spend cryptocurrencies tethered to their Coinbase account on the go wherever Visa is accepted. Shift Card has emailed customers letting them know the card program will be sunsetting for an unknown period of time. Unlike the Atlanta based Bitpay Card, which essentially allows people to sell BTC and BCH for loaded U.S. dollars, the Shift Card deducts the funds directly from the Coinbase user’s account based on the spot price of the cryptocurrency in real time. The service existed for four years, but now users will have less than two months to use the Visa card before operations go on hiatus. “We hope you enjoyed using the Shift Card and truly thank you for your loyalty,” runs the email from Shift Financial. “We, unfortunately, will be retiring the program in April of this year — All Shift Cards will officially be deactivated on April 11, 2019.” The email continues: Don’t worry, your Shift Card will continue to work until that date. Feel free to email Shift support if you have any questions we’d be happy to answer — We hope to re-launch the program and issue new cards in the near future. Thank you for your patience. Little Choice Left for US Residents Seeking a Reliable Crypto Debit Card The email doesn’t give any details as to why the crypto card service program is coming to an end. News.Bitcoin.com reached out to Shift support but has yet to receive a reply concerning the matter. Shift was partnered with Metropolitan Commercial Bank, a financial provider known for its partnerships with other cryptocurrency service providers. The move leaves the U.S. Shift customers in 46 states with only one reliable option, the Bitpay Visa card. Although there are other lesser known card operations in the works, none of them are worth discussing because some of the projects lack a physical card right now and others haven’t been around long enough to be reviewed. U.S. residents have very little options for crypto-to-debit cards. Other well-known cryptocurrency debit card service providers like Wirex, Uquid, Cryptopay, and Spectrocoin only cover the EU region and various non-U.S. countries. Customers from Europe have also had issues with crypto card operators in the past when Wavecrest Holdings, another known crypto banking provider, stopped offering crypto-to-debit services to EU residents. Some card operations have never returned while other companies quickly found replacement banking partners. What do you think about the Shift Card ending its service this April? Do you think more crypto-to-debit services will be offered in the U.S.? Let us know in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Shift Card Visa, and Pixabay. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH, and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Shift Card Sunsets, Leaving US Crypto Card Users With Few Options appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrency ventures that don’t wish to convert their holdings to fiat can now pay for legal services with bitcoin cash (BCH) or bitcoin core (BTC) with Atrium. The corporate law firm, which has helped over 300 startups raise more than $500 million in venture capital, now accepts direct cryptocurrency payments via Bitpay. Also Read: Wikipedia Now Accepts Bitcoin Cash Donations via Bitpay Atrium Fintech and Blockchain Now Accepts Bitcoin Atrium, a legal services provider focused on high-growth startups, recently announced the acceptance of BCH and BTC payments for its Fintech and Blockchain practice (AFB) via the popular cryptocurrency payment processor Bitpay. Accepting payment in crypto will make engagement easier for its clients headquartered outside of the U.S. or with substantial cryptocurrency holdings. “Atrium’s blockchain practice is growing rapidly so it makes sense they would allow their clients to pay in bitcoin,” said Sonny Singh, the Chief Commercial Officer of Bitpay. “This is another great example of global crypto clients requesting to pay their bills in bitcoin which drives BitPay’s B2B business growth.” Shifting From HODL to BUIDL The law firm also announced the expansion of AFB by hiring three new legal experts to meet growing demand from clients in the field, despite the ongoing crypto winter. It has been representing fintech and blockchain ventures since the summer of 2017 and assists clients with platform design, securities and digital asset offerings, regulatory analysis, money transmitter licenses, broker-dealer registrations and general corporate and IP-related matters. “While our team’s own bitcoin wallets have been hit hard by the crypto winter, the downturn has accelerated industry maturation,” said corporate attorney Ross Barbash, head of Atrium Fintech and Blockchain. “In contrast to the frothiness of 12 months ago, investment is now more consistently flowing to talented teams working on meaningful projects. With the shift from HODL to BUIDL, we are finding it easier to identify and collaborate with the teams that both have the necessary dev chops and are committed to compliance. We are extremely lucky to have a team with diverse legal skills and deep understanding of the ecosystem that enables us to deliver informed, multidisciplinary advice for our clients. We speak our clients’ language and now accept payment in their preferred currency.” What do you think about law firms accepting bitcoin payments? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Verify and track bitcoin cash transactions on our BCH Block Explorer, the best of its kind anywhere in the world. Also, keep up with your holdings, BCH and other coins, on our market charts at Satoshi’s Pulse, another original and free service from Bitcoin.com. The post Startups-Focused Law Firm Now Accepts Bitcoin Cash Payments appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the last few weeks, a blockchain project called Veriblock whose protocol piggybacks off the Bitcoin Core (BTC) network has sparked debate. More than a quarter of BTC’s transaction numbers stem from the Veriblock system and the project has been criticized for using the blockchain in this manner. Also Read: Orca Pool Mining Operation Aims to Defend Altcoins and Forks From Attacks The Veriblock Chain Is Paying for a Lot of BTC Block Space Most people are unaware that about a quarter of the BTC chain’s daily transactions are due to another project called Veriblock. The Veriblock chain utilizes a system called proof-of-proof (PoP) and the ‘proof’ stems from the security of the BTC chain. Essentially, Veriblock aims to provide alternative blockchain security by immersing a snapshot of the altcoin’s ledger into the BTC chain. Veriblock uses OP return transactions and other methods to embed the blockchain’s state data in an “SP blockchain transaction.” Last month BTC developer and Casa CTO Jameson Lopp noticed that Veriblock was dominating the number of BTC-based OP return transactions. “Source of the now-highest volume of OP_RETURN outputs has been identified as Veriblock “proof of proof” miners,” explained Lopp. “They are creating around 20% of all BTC transactions now.” Jameson Lopp noticed the Veriblock transactions last December. According to statistics published this week, Veriblock captures more than 30-45 percent of transactions on a good day. The project is still in testnet mode and has only recently caught the attention of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. A few other BTC community members have called the project “garbage” and complained about Veriblock spamming the network. As usual, there are various subjective valuations on whether or not some transaction use cases are spam. Most people understand, though, that the network is permissionless by nature and it really doesn’t matter as long as users pay for the block space. Veriblock believes other blockchains will be enticed by the PoP system because it gives them the ability to leverage BTC’s security and reputation. “As a result, the reinforced security provided by PoP will encourage further adoption of these alternative blockchains,” Veriblock’s website details. “The transition of transactions from Bitcoin to alternative blockchains will also facilitate Bitcoin scaling, while continuing to drive value back to Bitcoin miners.” Veriblock testnet statistics. Piggyback Projects Believe the Well-Established First Layer Adds More Security to the Second Chain Because Veriblock piggybacks off of BTC’s security, the project can offer this safety net to alternative networks. Veriblock’s site says this enables early attack detection, protection against sustained 51 percent attacks and double-spend attack prevention. Veriblock is operated by CTO Maxwell Sanchez and CEO Justin Fisher and backed by former Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik who acts as technical advisor. BTC confirmed transactions per day. Veriblock is not the only project using the BTC chain for leverage as there have been other networks using the chain in a variety of ways. Omni Layer, the network that issues the stablecoin tether (USDT), uses OP_return transactions. Counterparty used a process called proof-of-burn (PoB) and other projects like Namecoin use merge mining. Another project using merge mining is the RSK network and the protocol is currently capturing 45 percent of BTC’s network hashrate. Some BTC proponents dislike the merge mining process as well as other types of sidechain projects like Drivechain, because a few crypto community members are extremely paranoid about giving miners too much power. Veriblock is just another example of a chain using BTC’s established blockchain in order to add more value to what it produces. And because the cryptocurrency’s network is permissionless, people’s opinions on certain projects being “spam” or “inefficient” is little more than internet chatter. What do you think about the Veriblock chain using 30-45 percent of BTC transactions? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. Image credits: Shutterstock, Veriblock, Twitter, and Blockchain.com. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post More Than 30% of BTC Traffic Stems from the Veriblock Project appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

How do you convert bitcoin that’s associated with your identity into coins with no connection to your name? In an era of enhanced blockchain forensics tools, passing your coins through a few addresses and hoping for the best won’t cut it. Reclaiming your right to privacy and to own bitcoin anonymously calls for a smarter and more systematic approach. Also read: These Exchanges Allow You to Trade Cryptocurrencies Without Knowing You Conceal Your Coins and Keep Your Privacy If you’ve got cryptocurrency associated with your name or pseudonym, you might want to remedy that. There are legitimate reasons for doing so, including restoring financial privacy and obfuscating your holdings from friend and foe. With cryptocurrency exchanges increasingly deploying forensics tools from the likes of Chainalysis, you needn’t have done anything wrong to come into possession of “tainted” coins. If coins in your wallet can be mapped back to previous illegal activity, you could find your custodial account frozen or attract scrutiny from law enforcement. Bitcoins are meant to be fungible, but the creeping concept of taint, thanks to powerful blockchain forensics tools, has eroded this to the extent where freshly mined bitcoins attract a premium because there’s no history associated with them. As Jameson Lopp observed: There are several surveillance companies now that track funds and apply “taint analysis” to them to tell services how likely it is that funds are from an “illegitimate” source. Of course, these are generally probabilistic educated guesses and can result in innocent users getting caught up in an algorithm’s dragnet. These tools have clearly resulted in many Bitcoin users being deplatformed from various services because they were deemed to be risky customers. Given the difficulty of purchasing or earning bitcoin anonymously, your only option is often to obfuscate ownership or origin of the funds after the fact. For example, if you’ve purchased bitcoin on an exchange and wish to send it to cold storage in a hardware wallet, there are steps you can take to make it harder for forensics firms to form a connection. Throw It Through a Mixer Bitcoin mixers, also known as tumblers, combine inputs from multiple senders which are pooled via a single address and then distributed before being split and sent on to the recipients. Services such as Bestmixer and Bitblender will mask the source of a transaction, but tumblers require trust that the service isn’t a honeypot that’s being used to funnel and track users. Moreover, exchanges such as Coinbase have been known to freeze customer deposits that emanated from a mixer on suspicion of criminality. Just as using PGP may cause the NSA to take a heightened interest in your online activity, despite encryption being perfectly legal, the same holds true of mixers. They’re useful for obfuscating bitcoin transactions, but shouldn’t be the final hop before you send coins on to their final destination. Added Anonymity Techniques Regardless of whether you choose to use a mixer, there are additional steps you should take to mask your transactions and outwit those forensics firms. One of the simplest but most effective ways is by using a service such as Electrum to create a new bitcoin wallet. Send your coins to this address, then connect to the web using the Tor browser, create a new wallet and then send the coins on to this new address. For added privacy, you can repeat this step, sending coins between multiple wallets, while changing the transaction amount and delay between sending each time. This process might seem arduous, and it won’t be practical for everyday use, but for occasions when you want to put some distance between coin source and coin destination, it’s a valuable exercise. Exchange Your Coins Cryptocurrency exchanges are generally regarded as enemies of privacy, but they can also be its abettors. Choose an exchange that doesn’t enforce KYC and you can use its hot and cold wallets to effectively serve as a mixer. Better still, trade your bitcoins for altcoins, withdraw them, and then deposit these coins and reverse the process and you’ll throw even the keenest of blockchain analysts off the scent. Non-custodial coin exchangers that don’t require KYC are also good for this purpose. Some people use bitcoin gambling sites to further mix their coins and take receipt of fresh ones. Choose a Privacy-Conscious Wallet A final step, for purveyors of fungible bitcoins – or the only step for those who don’t wish to meddle with mixers and coin changers – is to use a privacy-friendly wallet like Wasabi. As previously detailed by news.Bitcoin.com, “you can queue your BTC in Coinjoin, where it will be masked through mixing it with other transactions.” The video below shows how to anonymize bitcoins using Wasabi. Better bitcoin privacy tools are on their way, but in the meantime, there’s a lot that you can do to keep blockchain forensics services guessing. The more people who mix, tumble, obfuscate and otherwise mask their transactions, the greater the privacy gain for everyone. Reclaiming your financial privacy, even when using pseudonymous cryptocurrency, requires effort. The benefits of owning unseizable, untraceable digital currency, however, make it all worthwhile. What other techniques do you recommend for increasing privacy and thwarting blockchain forensics? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support these products/services. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the mentioned companies or any of their 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 this article. The post How to Outwit Blockchain Analysis and Conceal Your Coins appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In this edition of The Daily, we look at Liberstad’s progress toward building a libertarian community in Norway. The city has just issued its own digital coin. Also, crypto mining contracts have been classified as securities in the Canadian province of Quebec. And in Europe, Luxembourg has adopted a law that protects crypto traders and investors. Also read: Cryptocurrency Payments, Nvidia Losses, Suspended CFD Liberstad Issues Own Token Called City Coin Liberstad, Norway’s self-proclaimed private city, has adopted its own ‘city coin’ as the official currency and the only medium of exchange in the libertarian territory. The crypto is based on Liberstad’s smart city platform City Chain which utilizes blockchain technology to enable the design, implementation and use of services for the city’s inhabitants. A press release detailed: Whereas cities currently rely on public services operated by government entities, City Chain gives existing and emerging cities such as Liberstad the opportunity to build and offer services conducted on a private, internal and voluntary basis. City Chain hosts a number of features for emerging cities like Liberstad. One of them is City Hub, a dashboard for smart city inhabitants that citizens can access through a mobile app. It allows users to interact with the community, vote on or launch new initiatives, register property and contract insurance, among other options. The platform’s native token can already be traded. It’s available on the P2pb2b exchange and Liberstad’s own Block Exchange. According to its creators, city coin will be used to buy products and services within the city, pay wages as well as for funding civic projects. New investors will also be able to purchase land plots with the coin in the future. The anarcho-capitalist city claims it has already sold over 100 plots to investors coming from various countries. Last year, the project announced it accepts payments in 27 different cryptocurrencies including bitcoin cash (BCH) and bitcoin core (BTC). Mining Contracts Classified as Securities in Quebec The Financial Markets Authority of Quebec (AMF) has stated that cryptocurrency mining contracts can fall under existing regulations for securities. The Canadian regulator made the announcement in relation to a request that the investors of a crypto mining company contact the AMF regarding unrecovered investments, The Daily Hodl reported. According to the publication, Technologies Crypto Inc. reportedly took $300,000 from investors. They expected their money to be used for cryptocurrency mining. However, many investors have not been able to contact the company for a while. Jean-François Fortin, an AMF official, commented: With this decision, the Financial Administrative Tribunal ruled for the first time that an investment offer related to cryptocurrency mining may constitute an investment contract, i.e. a security whose public offering is regulated. In February, the AMF asked the tribunal to issue a series of freezing orders against Technologies Crypto Inc. The company should release custody of its mining equipment and cease all activities related to the trade of securities. The regulator also invited its investors who have to contact the authority and ask for assistance. Luxembourg Adopts Law to Protect Crypto Investors The small nation of Luxembourg has adopted a law that will provide protection for cryptocurrency traders and investors. Lawmakers who supported the so-called ‘blockchain bill’ hope that it will bring more transparency to the crypto markets. The legislation was passed with an overwhelming majority of 58 out of 60 votes. According to an announcement published on the website of Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies, Bill 7363 is expected to provide financial market participants with legal certainty for the circulation of securities via distributed ledgers. The authors also want to make the transfer of securities more efficient by reducing the number of intermediaries. With the adoption of the draft, Luxembourg becomes a member of the club of European nations that have taken steps to regulate the crypto space. Other jurisdictions in the group include Switzerland, Estonia, Malta, Gibraltar, and the Isle of Man. What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post In the Daily: Liberstad Coin, Mining Contracts, Luxembourg Law appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Interest in token sales has dropped dramatically over the past 10 months, with investment falling almost 95 percent. Nevertheless, according to a new study, the ICO market is still significantly larger than two years ago. Also read: Localbitcoins to Introduce New User Verification Rules Startups Raised Less Than $300 Million in January Investment in startups conducting initial coin offerings (ICOs) has decreased from $5.8 billion in March 2018 to $291 million in January 2019. That’s according to statistical data recently released by crypto analytics platform Coinschedule. However, despite the obvious drop in fundraising through token sales, in the first month of this year ICOs attracted over 70 percent more capital than in January of 2017. While 2018 saw a great number of token sale projects, despite the falling prices of cryptocurrencies, 2019 started quite slowly for ICOs. Less than 50 were launched in the first week of January and only $6 million was raised by 424 ongoing coin offerings. That’s the smallest combined weekly total collected by ICOs since 2017, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. Another report recently showed that initial coin offerings raised 25 percent less funds during the fourth quarter of last year in comparison with the previous three months. According to Icobench, almost 600 ICOs were completed in Q4 2018 but the total amount of capital collected during the quarter decreased by about $400 million to $1.4 billion. Eos and Telegram Lead the Top 10 ICOs The Coinschedule data shows that March and June of last year were the months with the most funds raised in ICOs – $4 billion and $5 billion respectively. The website also lists the top 10 token sales by raised funds. With over $4.1 billion, Eos is leading the chart. It’s followed by the first and second presale of the Telegram ICO with $1.7 billion and the private presale of the petro, the Venezuelan state-issued digital coin, which according to the government in Caracas accumulated $735 million, although this figure is hard to verify. The authors of the study have also grouped ICOs according to raised amount. 24.1 percent of the capital has been attracted by startups with infrastructure projects. Finance is the second largest category with 16.2 percent, followed by communications with 10.1 percent. Another 7.7 percent of the capital has been collected by trading and investing startups and companies offering payment services form the fifth group with 4.7 percent. What are your expectations about the development of the ICO sector through the rest of the year? Tell us in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Coinschedule. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post ICO Investments Fall 95% in 10 Months appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the last few years, infighting and different visions has led to significant divides within the Bitcoin community, weakening the network effects no matter which chain you support. With all the arguments about scaling, privacy, consensus changes and the various forks, it is amazing that these public networks are still thriving. Nevertheless, the people who maintain the various software protocols that communicate with Bitcoin and the network’s many participants have lives that are finite — which means we don’t know if future generations will change the social contract Satoshi Nakamoto created years ago. Also Read: Core Developer’s 300kb Block Proposal Bolstered in Bid to Push Lightning Adoption Understanding the Social Layer of Bitcoin The technology we all know and love called Bitcoin has changed the lives of many individuals over the last 10 years. However, during the latter half of that decade, the humans who have maintained the protocol have relentlessly argued over how it should operate. This has led to a large community divide, endless fighting, and many different forks. The protocol itself, however, has been able to continuously perpetuate the social contract we call “Bitcoin” during this period. However, the arguments have led to wavering opinions and whimsical ideas that threaten the Bitcoin network’s social contract. “Money presents an important lesson: The larger and more valuable a social institution gets, the more it attracts others to seek control over it,” Hasu Fly Dec. 3, 2018. The independent cryptocurrency researcher Hasu Fly details the social contract very well in his memorable essay “Unpacking Bitcoin’s Social Contract.” Within the editorial Hasu details that fiat money is a social contract or an agreement between the citizens and the state. Many individuals reject this social contract though and believe the state fails to gain true consensus because it uses force as a means to manage each country’s economy. With Bitcoin, things are quite different and the protocol is used by individuals and organizations in a completely voluntary manner. “Many don’t realize that Bitcoin works through a social contract as well,” explains Hasu’s essay. “The social layer and its rules are the heart of Bitcoin.” After describing in great detail on how fiat money and Bitcoin are both social contracts, Hasu then reveals the rules of the network’s underlying social contract. The researcher details that Satoshi Nakamoto settled on four distinct rules: confiscation resistance, censorship resistance, inflation resistance, and counterfeit resistance. Essentially this means the owner of the coins can hold keys to the currency without it being taken away, and the owner can also transact on the network without permission. An owner of any amount of bitcoin knows that the protocol has a limited supply, and last but not least anyone can verify the first three rules at any time using the transparent and public blockchain. The four rules of Bitcoin according to Hasu Fly’s essay “Unpacking Bitcoin’s Social Contract.” Future Generations Could Drastically Change Bitcoin So far the technology has stayed true to the social contract and one could easily say this applies to each network whether it be BTC or BCH. Hasu’s essay also details that most of the time social contracts do not fork, but the BCH fork was a rare case scenario and what was left over was “two weaker social contracts — each agreed to by fewer people than the old one.” However, we have yet to cross past one generation with the social contract in the decade since the genesis block. When people recently discussed changing the 21 million capped supply the community went ballistic, but in 10 more years we don’t know if future generations will be more willing. The average human generation is between 25-30 years and bitcoin could be changed drastically in 40 years if the social contract is not upheld today. Let’s face it, over time generations change things and some of those revisions are good and sometimes they are awful — like changing from the gold standard to fiat and trusting central banks. Satoshi Nakamoto suggested in the genesis block back in Jan. 2009 that society had put too much trust in the central banking system. Future generations have continued to bolster centrally planned economics and Keynesianism. For now, some of the lead developers of reference implementations are kings of the hill – or at least that’s how they act. But over time, younger generations who are smarter and can code better will challenge these open source developers, and at some point their skills will be useless. Ultimately when money is used as a social contract, participants vote by either using the tender or seeking alternatives. Furthermore, money not only applies to its own social contract theory in a general sense, but also weaves within other social contracts within our society. Like it or not, any one of the two dominant Bitcoin chains may be chosen by the masses by coexisting in an entirely different way and one chain may not survive over the next decade. “Bitcoin at its most fundamental level is a breakthrough in computer science – one that builds on 20 years of research into cryptographic currency, and 40 years of research in cryptography, by thousands of researchers around the world,” – Marc Andreessen Jan. 21, 2014. Bitcoin’s 4 Fundamentals Must Be Passed On Still, if the first generation of users decides to stick to the rules of Bitcoin’s social contract they must continue to strengthen the agreement. After 10 years, many well-known bitcoiners are willing to dismiss the global understanding and want to discuss changing the rules. Some supporters want to instill censorship by only giving affluent individuals the ability to transact onchain and store value in Bitcoin, by bolstering a barrier to entry with expensive network fees. All Bitcoin supporters can do is pass on Bitcoin’s social contract and rules to future generations and hope they won’t change the fundamentals. The ultimate goal has always been “hyperbitcoinztion,” but if we waver on the very foundations of Bitcoin’s social convention then nothing will be socially, morally, and rationally justified. Over the last few years, some people have dismissed Satoshi’s genius and the fact he created a near perfect system that has been Byzantine fault tolerant for 10 years with 99.98332 percent uptime. Many people to this day, whichever camp they are in (BCH or BTC), still believe in Bitcoin’s rules wholeheartedly. However, with all the infighting and shifting opinions on the true meaning of rules 1-4 these issues may challenge future generations. The Bitcoin network we know of today may not be the same when our sons and daughters begin to truly participate unless we keep some consistency on the social layer. It is quite obvious that those who do not want Bitcoin’s technology to succeed are attacking the root of the social layer today, and will not relent until they have achieved their aims. What do you think about future generations changing the social contract called Bitcoin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below. OP-ed disclaimer: This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. 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 information in this Op-ed article. Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Vacate Wall Street, and Hasu Fly’s 2018 essay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin’s Social Contract Must Be Resilient to the Whims of Future Generations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Amidst the ongoing cryptocurrency bear market, stablecoins have continued to gain prominence, with USDT currently comprising the dominant pairing for three of the four largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Also Read: Localbitcoins Trade Surges in Latin America and East Asia USDT Comprises Dominant Pairing for 3 of Top 4 Cryptocurrencies by Market Cap According to Cryptocompare, USDT currently comprises the largest currency pairing by volume for three of the four largest crypto assets by capitalization. In the last 30 days, USDT pairings have comprised more than 67% of total BTC trade, nearly 46% of total ETH trade, and 48% of LTC trade. While BTC is the dominant pairing for XRP, with almost 49% of monthly volume, USDT is the second-most traded pairing with 22.60%. Stablecoins Dominate Currency Pairing Rankings for Leading Crypto Assets Aside from the dominance of USDT pairings, other stablecoins are increasingly populating the rankings for top currency pairings of the leading crypto assets. Four of the top 10 BTC pairings by volume are currently stablecoins, with QC ranking fifth with 2.7% of monthly volume, PAX ranking eighth with 0.55%, and USDC ranking 10th with 0.41%, in addition to USDT holding the top ranking. Half of the top 10 currency pairings for ETH by volume are stablecoins, with USDT joined by fourth-ranked QC with 3.13% of monthly trade, sixth-ranked BITCNY with 1.41% of trade, eighth-ranked PAX with 0.28%, and 10th-ranked DAI with 0.23%. Stablecoins comprise four of the 10 most-traded pairings for ripple. Aside from USDT, XRP’s dominant stablecoin pairings are sixth-ranked QC with 4.02% of trade during the previous 30 days, ninth-ranked OKB with 0.23% of trade, and 10th-ranked PAX with 0.22%. Four of the top 10 LTC pairings are also stablecoins, with QC ranking fourth with 1.05%, TUSD ranking seventh with 0.27%, OKB ranking ninth with 0.22%, and USDT ranking as the dominant trading pair. What is your response to the increasing presence of stablecoins among the top currency pairings for the leading crypto assets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Stablecoins Dominate Currency Pairings for Leading Crypto Assets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article