roadrunner

The continued censorship of cryptocurrency discussions on some of the larger sub-forums of Reddit has gotten to new levels recently. People are not only getting banned for any comment that might challenge the moderators’ enforced opinions in one forum, but complaints are also silenced in competing forums as well. Also Read: Company Asks Israeli Authorities Permission to Pay Salaries in Bitcoin Bans and Censorship Another redditor was banned from r/bitcoin for no real reason, that’s nothing new. But this case was so ridicules that it caused a massive backlash and exposed the censorship of another subreddit as well. After writing about getting banned from r/bitcoin on r/cryptocurrency, the post got over 3000 upvotes and more than 1000 comments but eventually was censored itself. And the reason he was banned from r/bitcoin to begin with? Here is what he had to say: “I’m a BTC holder and believer. recently there was a Post in the Bitcoin subreddit about the extremely low fees in the current lightning Network. OP claimed that Bitcoin with lightning has the lowest fees compared to all other alts. While I’m a strong believer in Bitcoin I also dislike the spreading of false claims about the projects I follow either good or bad. So I stated that while Lightning works amazing so far, to claim it has the lowest fees compared to all other alts is factually incorrect.” What Can Be Done? If you think that the censorship in any forum is overbearing and will not be changed regardless of how many people will complain, the best thing you can do is vote with your feet and leave for a place that respects your right for free speech. For talking candidly about anything related to bitcoin on Reddit this apparently means joining /r/btc, the subreddit which was created to uphold free speech and now has over 200,000 members. And beyond just switching subreddits, this might be a good time to start thinking about migrating to other censorship-resistant platforms altogether. After all, the company itself recently shut down Darknet forums, and one can never know what topics will be included in its next crackdown. If you want to check out some on-chain social media solutions, we recently reviewed Memo and Blockpress. What should social media users do to avoid censorship in discussing bitcoin? 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 Censorship of Cryptocurrency Discussions on Reddit Gets Kafkaesque appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange has reportedly become the first crypto exchange in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to receive a regulatory sandbox license. The license was granted by the Central Bank of Bahrain and will take effect this week. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Crypto Exchange Received Sandbox License The Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) has reportedly granted a regulatory sandbox license to the operator of Palmex, a Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange. The Dubai International Financial Center (CPI Financial) elaborated on Tuesday: Palmex, a professional digital asset exchange powered by Arabianchain Technology, has become the first cryptocurrency exchange in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to receive a regulatory sandbox licence. According to its website, the exchange offers “multiple trading pairs including bitcoin and Dubaicoin DBIX, the first decentralized cryptocurrency in the region,” in addition to ETH, LTC, and XRP. Fees are divided into three tiers based on monthly trading volume. Venture company Arabianchain Technology is also based in Dubai. “Arabianchain is the first public, decentralized and consensus-driven blockchain in the MENA region,” the company claims. License Effective June 15 The sandbox creates a virtual safe space for businesses to “trial and refine innovative products, services, platforms and business models in a live but controlled environment…giving regulators time to adapt legislation as needed,” CPI Financial explained. “Companies will also be able to apply to list their tokens and coins with Palmex and benefit from the compliance of the exchange.” According to Arabianchain’s founder and CEO, Mohammed Alsehli, the company “will start with a limited number of select users to test and optimize the process and then expand to the rest.” CPI Financial wrote: The licence goes into effect on 15 July as part of a rigorous application process that verified its security systems, policies, processes and controls to protect customers. Whilst in the regulatory sandbox, companies are required to adhere to CBB regulations. The CEO believes that “a significant rise in awareness and adoption [of cryptocurrency] could be expected, driving a huge spike in the number of trades and token-based fundraising across the region while maintaining the safety of the financial system,” CPI Financial conveyed. What do you think of the Central Bank of Bahrain granting Palmex a regulatory sandbox license? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Arabianchain, and Palmex. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Crypto Exchange Approved for Regulatory Sandbox License in Bahrain appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This week four Bitcoin Cash (BCH) researchers and developers proposed a different transaction sorting process for the BCH protocol called ‘canonical transaction ordering.’ The proposed method would sort transactions against their identifiers, rather than the current topological transaction ordering rule, making it easier to for the network to process very large blocks. Also read: Crypto and Virtual Reality Meet in Ken Liu’s Science Fiction A New Transaction Ordering Rule Proposed for Bitcoin Cash Researcher Joannes Vermorel (Lokad). Joannes Vermorel (Lokad), Amaury Séchet (Bitcoin ABC), Shammah Chancellor (Bitcoin ABC), and Tomas van der Wansem (Bitcrust) have published a new paper that proposes to change the current topological transaction ordering rule within the BCH network. The paper called ‘Canonical Transaction Ordering for Bitcoin’ argues that a canonical ordering process would be more efficient and allow for better scaling. Currently, consensus rules process transactions in a list form where remote peers forward transactions to their neighbors. The way it works right now the list must be topologically sorted, but if the rule was changed to a canonical method that works with blocks as a set, as opposed to a list, it enables BCH to process very large blocks. The researchers state that the change makes for some “compelling” use cases. “First, it allows to produce compact proofs of transaction inclusion/exclusion, making chainless apps more capable,” explains the paper. Second, it gives a newer degree of control to Bitcoin participants to localize their transaction within blocks. More Efficient Block Propagation and the Possibility of Chainless Apps Ultimately the new process would make block propagation and emissions more efficient, explains the proposal. Software implementations are simplified and proofs of transaction inclusion are improved. The researchers detail that the results allow network participants to utilize their bandwidth capacity more efficiently by “propagating as much information as possible ahead of time prior to the emission of a new block.” The Canonical Transaction Ordering Rule (CTOR) also allows opt-in locality between participants, and could possibly produce innovative ‘chainless applications.’ “The CTOR offers the possibility for any participant to zoom into a block to identify whether a transaction is found or not without processing the whole block,” the proposal emphasizes. This property is of high interest because chainless apps gain the possibility to verify flows of transactions without being encumbered by an arbitrarily large blockchain. CTOR can make block propagation more efficient and enable the possibility of ‘chainless apps.’ A higher resolution of this photo can be found at http://media.lokad.com/bitcoin/taxonomy-schema-2018-05-07.pdf The paper published on June 12 mainly discusses the importance of alleviating computational load going forward and CTOR could help the chain process giant sized blocks with ease. Bitcoin Cash supporters on forums and social media seemed to favor the idea, and conversed about whether or not this consensus change would be added to the upcoming hard fork slated for November. What do you think about the proposed method of canonical transaction ordering? Do you think developers should add this idea to the next upgrade this November? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Lokad.com, and Pixabay. Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin Cash Researchers Propose a New Transaction Ordering Rule appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bearish momentum appears to be accelerating across the cryptocurrency markets following the failure of BTC to hold above the long-term ascending trendline dating back to July 2017. As of this writing, the BTC markets appear to be falling to test support at the $6,000 USD area after forming a large descending triangle. The leading alternative cryptocurrency markets are following suit, with all of the top ten cryptocurrency markets having lost approximately 10% against USD in the last 24 hours. Also Read: As Bitcoin Futures Volumes Increase Credit Agencies Look to Downgrade Dealers Bitcoin Breaks Below Symmetrical Triangle It has been a rough week for the BTC market so far, with the price of bitcoin having lost roughly 15% in the last four days. The accelerating selling pressure can be attributed to bitcoin’s failure to break above the long-term symmetrical triangle comprised of an ascending trendline running from July 2017, and a descending trendline connecting the all-time of $20,000 to the local high of $10,000. As of this writing, the immediate price action shows BTC trading for approximately $6,300 after producing a small bounce following a sharp drop down to $6,100. The bitcoin markets are yet to retest the prior local support area of roughly $6,600. In breaking below the symmetrical triangle, BTC has formed a descending triangle, with current price action testing the $6,000 resistance area for the third time this year. Many trades are inferring from current price action that the short to medium term outlook may have a bearish bias – as BTC has broken below a key long-term ascending trendline, and have broken below the local low produced during April. Bitcoin Cash Tests Major Trendline The BCH markets are currently trading for approximately $815 after making a third point of contact with a descending trendline from the all-time price high and breaking below the $1,000 area for the third time in 2018 on Monday. The price of BCH has lost 23.5% in the last four recent days, with current price action approaching the support-line of a large symmetrical triangle spanning the entirety of the market’s history. Immediate price action appears to be readying for a modest bounce off the key price area of approximately $775 – which shows confluence with the breakout area from November 2017, in addition to comprising February’s low. A bounce off this area would also comprise a fourth point of contact with the long-term ascending trendline dating back to the first week of BCH trading. Whilst the Bitcoin Cash markets are not bucking the bearish trend, should the current support area hold, BCH could produce a higher low – which, after May’s bounce, posted a higher top than was produced in February, would comprise a confluence of notable bullish signals. However, even if BCH is able to bounce off the approximately $750 area, it remains to be seen as to whether the market will be able to break above the large symmetrical triangle which appears to be guiding recent price action. BCH has also been highly correlated with BTC in recent months, suggesting that if BTC continues to bleed, it is highly likely that BCH will follow suit. A break below the year-long ascending trendline would likely signal further bearish action. Ethereum Forms Symmetrical Triangle Ethereum has lost approximately 20% in the last four days, with the price of ETH falling from approximately $600 to roughly $465 as of this writing. ETH is testing the support-line of large symmetrical triangle formation stemming from the market’s all-time price high of roughly $1,400, with current price action making a fifth point of contact with the ascending trendline dated from late-May 2017. As with many other markets, even if Ethereum is able to bounce off the long-term ascending trendline, it is unlikely that the ETH markets will produce significant recovery unless Ethereum is able to break above large symmetrical triangle in which price action is currently trending. EOS Drops by 55% in 6 Weeks After rallying to produce a record high of approximately $23 at the start of May, the EOS markets have since produced heavy losses of over 55% in six weeks, including a drop of nearly $30% in last four days. As of this writing, the price of EOS is testing support at roughly $10. Throughout June, EOS has maintained its position as the fourth most traded cryptocurrency by 24-hour volume. Do you think that the markets are set to produce further bearish action in the short term? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Trading View 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 Markets Update: Crypto Markets Tests Key Support Levels appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Tether is back in the news thanks to a new report alleging it played a pivotal role in bitcoin’s mega-bull run last year. This isn’t the first time the dollar-pegged stablecoin has been blamed for market manipulation, but is the most compelling evidence to date that 2017’s record highs may not have been entirely organic. Also read: Ripple CEO: Bitcoin Controlled by Chinese, Absurd to Think it Could be Primary World Currency How Untethered Is Bitcoin? “Is Bitcoin Really Un-Tethered?” runs the title of a provocative new research paper published today. Its authors have taken an algorithmic investigative approach, using blockchain analysis to determine the extent to which timed release of tethers into the cryptocurrency ecosystem may have served as a tool for artificially inflating prices. Long-time tether critic Bitfinexed has been alleging as much for months, and successfully persuaded a portion of the cryptocurrency community that tether-led market manipulation was rampant. At the time, though, when BTC was hitting new all-time highs virtually every day all through November and December, most traders didn’t care; they were too busy watching their portfolio go up. But in the sober light of 2018’s enduring bear market, tether’s ability to influence the price of BTC is of major concern. If it transpires that last year’s record prices were the result of manipulation then without tether’s support, the prospect of bitcoin hitting another all-time high is remote. In fact, with BTC currently languishing below $6,500, even five figures feels like a long way off. Tether Consistently Pumps BTC, Claims Report The abstract to the report by John M. Griffin and Amin Shame states: “We find that purchases with Tether are timed following market downturns and result in sizable increases in Bitcoin prices…such heavy Tether transactions are associated with 50% of the meteoric rise in Bitcoin and 64% of other top cryptocurrencies…These patterns cannot be explained by investor demand proxies but are most consistent with the supply-based hypothesis where Tether is used to provide price support and manipulate cryptocurrency prices.” This flies in the face of a previous study which found little correlation between tether printing and BTC price increases. “[The author’s] testing does not support the claims that BTC prices are moved by USDT printing — although, Ivanov explains, his statistical analysis doesn’t necessarily fully disprove tether manipulations,” we wrote in February. The author of that report conceded, however, that only a complete audit of tether would settle the matter once and for all. Not everyone is convinced that prices increasing following tether printing is proof of manipulation Tether Rises to Claim 12th Spot by Market Cap For a cryptocurrency whose price is designed to stay constant, at $1 a token, tether has been on the rise recently. It recently leapfrogged dash and monero to claim 12th spot in the cryptocurrency charts based on market cap. This feat is due to the decline of the cryptocurrency market in general, which currently stands at $273 billion. As the markets continue to bleed red, tether, together with other stablecoins, forms one of the few safe harbors. Bolstering the findings of today’s report into tether is the revelation that cryptos such as ether and zcash also pumped following the release of tether, with the green candles often breaking out on USDT exchanges first. When Bitfinex stopped issuing tethers for a while earlier this year, the cryptocurrency breakouts also ceased. At 66 pages, and complemented by meticulous charts, citations, and algorithmical analysis, the authors of today’s report have produced the most comprehensive tether investigation to date. The report finishes: “Overall, our findings provide substantial support for the view that price manipulation may be behind substantial distortive effects in cryptocurrencies. These findings suggest that external capital market surveillance and monitoring may be necessary to obtain a market that is truly free. More generally, our findings support the historical narrative that dubious activities are not just a by-product of price appreciation, but can substantially contribute to price distortions and capital misallocation.” Do you think tether played a part in inflating prices last year? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Tether. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post New Report Blames Tether for Bitcoin’s Bull Run appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Paxful, the peer-to-peer (P2P) bitcoin marketplace, has announced new developments in its #BuiltWithBitcoin charitable initiative. The company has granted scholarships to female Afghan refugees in the U.S., and provided additional resources for the Rwandan nursery school that it helped construct. Also Read: Company Asks Israeli Authorities Permission to Pay Salaries in Bitcoin Helping Afghan Women The recipients, which were chosen based on their personal essays, are Susan Naseri, who is interested in non-profit work and law; Dunia Azizi, who will pursue a mathematics degree; and Farzana Nawabi, who is working towards a bachelor’s degree in nursing. They were awarded $5,000 each, $2,500 per semester. This scholarship will continue as an annual program by Zam Zam, the non-profit which is in charge of the implementation. “As a recipient of the Zam Zam Water scholarship, I’d like to express endless gratitude and appreciation to Paxful and everyone involved in the donation process,” said Susan Naseri. “Receiving this scholarship is not only an immense honor and privilege; it also eases my financial stress significantly. I’m beyond humbled and thankful for this scholarship; thank you eternally for helping me expand my education and fulfill my dreams.” Investing in Africa Paxful, which reported earlier this year that its monthly bitcoin volume in Africa is around $40 million, launched the #BuiltWithBitcoin program in 2017 by donating $50,000 in bitcoin for the construction of a nursery school in Rwanda. The company more recently announced it is increasing its investment in the school by upgrading the facilities, providing teachers with educational materials and salaries, and giving students free launches, uniforms and new desks. It is also building a water filtration system to allow water from local wells to be used for farming. The initiative also recently welcomed cryptocurrency provider Anthem Gold, which donated enough bitcoin to build a 35,000-liter water tank in Rwanda, and funded the cultivation of over eighty sustainable community gardens as well as thirty goats for two villages. “I am grateful to participate in a project that builds sustainable and essential projects for communities in need,” said Anthem Hayek Blanchard, CEO of Anthem Gold. “We hope to use Zam Zam’s knowledge to provide people with the building blocks needed to foster and grow.” Ray Youssef, the CEO of Paxful, was recently interviewed on the Humans of Bitcoin podcast about why Africa needs bitcoin. What other causes should be supported by bitcoin companies? 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 Paxful Grants Academic Scholarships to Female Afghan Refugees #BuiltWithBitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This past April, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Bitcoin futures markets offered by the two derivatives giants Cboe and CME Group and how contract volumes were steadily rising. This month, while BTC-spot prices slide to significant lows, both futures products from these two companies are still seeing increased demand for contracts. Also Read: A New Cryptocurrency Radio Broadcast Launches on Boston’s FM 104.9 Bitcoin Futures Volumes Continue to Increase Summer is here and the month of June has been extremely bearish for cryptocurrency markets that have been struggling to grasp just a taste of those all-time highs touched late last year. The most dominant digital asset market held by Bitcoin Core (BTC) has lost over $13,000 USD in value since it touched $19,600 per BTC in mid-December 2017. Most of the crypto bull run last year took place a couple months before the launch of Cboe and CME Group’s futures markets. Immediately after these two markets went live, BTC spot prices tumbled and have been extremely bearish over the past five months since those highs. Besides the first day’s opening volumes, these derivative markets were initially pretty dull with no action and some days there were less than a few hundred contracts per day. Cboe bitcoin futures volume for June 11, 2018. Things have changed since then, as we reported this past April, both marketplaces have seen increased demand for bitcoin futures contracts over the last two months. CME Group’s BTC futures on June 11, after last weekend’s ‘bloody Sunday,’ saw volumes above 3,800 contracts for June expiries, and July contracts are starting to get attention as well. The bitcoin futures forerunner, Cboe, had over 8700 contracts for June 11, which indicates the bloodier the markets are, the more futures are being sold. Since April 25, when Cboe posted 19,000 contracts sold on that specific day, both Cboe and CME Group’s daily derivatives sales have been extremely active. June 11-12, 2018 CME Group Bitcoin Futures Volumes. The Three Major Credit Agencies Contemplate Downgrading Businesses Who Clear Bitcoin Futures Unfortunately, because these contract volumes are gradually increasing clearing houses and financial institutions that handle bitcoin futures may see a credit downgrade. According to a recent report, the three large rating agencies, Fitch, S&P, and Moody’s, are contemplating downgrading banks that clear bitcoin futures. Back in October, 2016, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Global published a report that detailed blockchain development would affect the credit ratings of banks that dealt with this technology. Then the credit agencies began discussing downgrading financial institutions this past February, if the volatile contract sales started to increase. Fitch, S&P, and Moody’s give credit ratings to banks for certain criteria and because BTC-based futures are so volatile this adds a lot of ‘risk’ in the eyes of these agencies. If the three agencies move towards a credit rating downgrade, it could affect all clearing members that have exposure to these contracts, not just the banks providing them directly. Downgrades can affect a financial institution’s asset management, and lending requirements significantly. As spot prices drop to significant lows in the cryptocurrency world, many people are looking back in hindsight and wonder if these crypto-based futures products are the root cause of this bearish market. After all, look at what derivatives products did to precious metals markets and the countless other markets before it. What do you think about the Bitcoin futures markets increasing and the credit agencies contemplating downgrading clearinghouses that deal with these products? Let us know in the comments below. Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, Cboe, and CME Group. Want a comprehensive list of the top 500 cryptocurrencies and see their prices and overall market valuation? Check out Satoshi Pulse for all that hot market action! The post As Bitcoin Futures Volumes Increase Credit Agencies Look to Downgrade Dealers appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Coinbase has opened up its index fund for accredited US investors, giving them exposure to all cryptocurrencies listed on its exchange GDAX. The company is now working on “launching more funds which are accessible to all investors and cover a broader range of digital assets.” Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Coinbase Index Fund Launched Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency companies, announced on Tuesday, June 12, that Coinbase Index Fund is now open for investment. The San Francisco-based company first unveiled this fund on March 6. “We’ve seen overwhelming interest from investors since we announced the fund earlier this year,” Reuben Bramanathan, Product Lead of Coinbase Asset Management, wrote. He elaborated: Coinbase Index Fund gives investors exposure to all assets listed on our exchange, weighted by market capitalization…At this stage, Coinbase Index Fund is only open to US-resident accredited investors. We’re working on launching more funds which are accessible to all investors and cover a broader range of digital assets. The company’s website states that “Our vision is to make index investing in digital assets available to everyone.” Further, the company emphasized that they are “beginning the work required to offer index funds to all US investors,” not just accredited ones, adding that “In the future, we hope to be able to offer index investing to customers in the US and internationally.” About the Fund Coinbase Index Fund “is a private fund that seeks to track Coinbase Index (Fixed Supply),” which is a measure of the overall performance of the cryptocurrencies listed on Coinbase’s exchange, GDAX, the company describes. Coinbase Index composition, which will be rebalanced to add ETC. The minimum investment amount for the fund is $250,000 and the maximum is $20 million. The fund’s annual management fee is 2%. “The assets are weighted by market capitalization. The index level takes into account the ongoing increases in supply of each asset, not just changes in price,” the company noted, adding that the index is “reconstituted each time that a new asset is listed on GDAX,” such as the recent addition of ETC. The current composition is 61.47% BTC, 27.17% ETH, 8.22% BCH, and 3.14% LTC. The fund will soon be rebalanced to include ETC. Moreover, Coinbase explained that “Unlike actively managed investment funds,” the fund manager of its index fund “does not actively trade assets, or target a specific allocation for any asset.” What do you think of Coinbase Index Fund? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinbase. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Coinbase Cryptocurrency Index Fund Now Open For Investment appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO, answered candidly during an interview about crypto’s prospects for the future. Among other criticisms, he stressed blockchain technology is mostly hype, and that bitcoin core (BTC) is controlled by Chinese miners and has no hope of being a world currency. Also read: Crypto and Virtual Reality Meet in Ken Liu’s Science Fiction Ripple CEO Bashes Bitcoin Attendees of the 2018 Stifel Cross Sector Insight Conference in Boston yesterday were probably expecting to learn more about Ripple, the world’s third most popular cryptocurrency by market capitalization. After all, none other than company CEO Brad Garlinghouse was guest of honor for an interview with Stifel Tech analyst Lee Simpson. And while Ripple certainly was the hot topic, Mr. Garlinghouse also took the opportunity to bash its main decentralized competitor, bitcoin core (BTC). “A number of prominent people,” Mr. Garlinghouse explained, “even Steve Wozniak, has said that he sees a world where Bitcoin is the primary currency. I think that’s absurd. I don’t think that any major economy will allow that to happen. By the way, it doesn’t make sense.” Indeed Woz has said as much, as have Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, who predicted it would happen within the decade. Brad Garlinghouse, 47, has held his present position since 2015. His professional background is almost all technology related. Stints with Yahoo!, AOL, working in the investment arena with the likes of Silver Lake Partners, @Ventures, @Home Network, SBC Communications, all round out his experience prior to Ripple. His views about BTC and its eventual influence have found him very quotable of late, especially this month. He’s spent a great deal of time attempting to separate the coin aspect of Ripple (XRP) from the company itself, and this has lead to some interesting juxtapositioning in his method of argument. BTC Blockchain Not Disruptive, Chinese in Control During the Boston interview, he even took on the sacred cow of the corporate world, BTC’s distributed ledger technology. “There’s a lot of blockchain craziness, but there are three indicators of market winners. Blockchain will not disrupt banks […] it will play an important role in the way our system works. It’s a short-sighted view […]. Bitcoin is not the panacea we thought it would be.” Mr. Garlinghouse then compared XRP to BTC. “This is how liquidity will be managed in the future. Bitcoin today takes 45 minutes to settle a transaction. Banks will use what is efficient and cheaper. And if you deliver a better product at a better price […] they will use it.” An under-reported story, Ripple’s CEO insisted, is how BTC is “owned by China.” He noted, “The smartest thing you’ve done is not have ‘bit’ or ‘coin’ in your name. I’ll tell you another story that is underreported, but worth paying attention to. Bitcoin is really controlled by China. There are four miners in China that control over 50% of Bitcoin. How do we know that China won’t intervene? How many countries want to use a Chinese-controlled currency? It’s just not going to happen.” Lastly, he assured, “I own bitcoin. Many people consider it as digital gold. I acknowledge, I’m long [on] crypto. I’d advise folks to only invest in crypto only what you’re willing to lose. It’s early to tell how it is going to play out. I think it’s a pretty good investing strategy. I don’t think about the digital asset market. I think about the customer experience. There are millions unbanked or underbanked. When I think about the transformation, it is fundamentally changing the way millions participate in banking. We can fundamentally change the way this works, to bring an entire population up a step in the system.” Do you think Ripple’s CEO is correct? Let us know in the comments. Images via the 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 Ripple CEO: Bitcoin Controlled by Chinese, Absurd to Think it Could be Primary World Currency appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The city of Zug, home of the Swiss Crypto Valley, will invite its residents to take part in an experimental blockchain-based vote. They are expected to share opinions on several questions of local importance, including the fireworks display during the annual Lakeside Festival and the use of digital IDs to borrow books and pay parking fees. This and other fintech and crypto-related stories from the Alpine nation and other corners of Europe are featured in today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief. Also read: Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: POT Saves World, Coinbase Pumps ETC, Binance Wants EUR Zug Experiments with Blockchain-Based Vote Authorities in the Swiss city of Zug plan to ask local residents to participate in a consultative blockchain-based vote this month utilizing the city’s electronic ID system. They will be able to vote via their smartphones by downloading and installing an app. The experimental vote will be held between June 25 and July 1. Citizens will be asked if they are in favor of setting alight fireworks during the annual Lakeside Festival, and whether they think digital IDs should be used to borrow books from the library, pay parking fees, and for identification on regular referendums. According to Swissinfo, the results of the vote will be non-binding. Nevertheless, the initiative, which aims to test whether blockchain can be used on a broader scale, highlights again the positive attitude of Swiss authorities towards cryptocurrencies and the underlying technology. The canton of Zug, dubbed Switzerland’s Crypto Valley, has become home to many fintech startups and even established crypto companies like the Chinese giant Bitmain, which has opened an office there. For some time now, Zug has been accepting cryptocurrency payments for municipal services, including company registrations using bitcoin and ether. The city introduced its eID system to provide citizens with digital access to council services. The pilot phase of the project started last fall. The system is based on blockchain technology. New Swiss Body to Simplify Capital Markets In another example of Switzerland’s serious approach to fintech innovations, leading representatives of the country’s financial, technological, academic and legal sectors have recently formed the new Capital Markets and Technology Association (CMTA) to facilitate the use of blockchain in financial markets. In a press release, they noted that “the blockchain technology has the potential to reduce the complexity of the capital markets system and lower the barrier of entry for startups.” According to CMTA’s founders, the lack of legal certainty is slowing and can potentially compromise development in the field. They hope to facilitate access to funding for new businesses by defining a set of industry-supported open standards. These should ultimately contribute to value creation throughout the economy said Jacques Iffland, CMTA’s chair and partner at Lenz & Staehelin, the largest Swiss law firm. Swissquote Bank Ltd, a leader in online banking, and Temenos, which specializes in banking software, are also behind the initiative. CMTA promises to work to create toolkits that can be used by new or established companies, businesses and startups to access funding and raise capital securely and efficiently, using new technologies and leveraging digitalization. The association is based in Geneva. Irish Blockchain Startup Delivering Aid to Refugees Raises €1m An Irish startup, using blockchain to facilitate the distribution of humanitarian aid, has raised an estimated €1 million from investors, according to industry sources quoted by The Irish Times. The Dublin-based Aid:tech is working in refugee camps, often in hotspots like the Middle East. On Wednesday, Enterprise Ireland and SGInnovate, the venture capital arm of the Singaporean development authority, announced simultaneous investments in the Irish company. This is the first time both state-backed organizations have allocated funds to support a blockchain business, the Irish daily notes. Amsterdam-based Blue Parasol Investments and Tin Fu Fund, a closed private equity fund managed by Shenzhen Capital Group, also took part in the funding round. Aid:tech aims to increase transparency in the distribution of aid, welfare, remittances, donations, and healthcare services through digitizing their delivery using blockchain technology on its platform. According to the company, only a fraction of the estimated €306 billion (~$360 billion) transferred each year by non-governmental aid organizations is currently delivered via transparent systems which, the startup claims, are extremely expensive to administer. The blockchain technology employed by the Irish firm would allow all international aid to be accounted for, including the distribution of medicine, food and other essentials, the publication details. Government-Backed Platform to Promote Ireland as a Blockchain Hub In an attempt to highlight Ireland’s capabilities in the blockchain ecosystem, authorities in Dublin have launched a new government-backed platform. Blockchain Ireland, founded in partnership with a young company called Consensys, aims to create conditions for greater cooperation between startups working in the sector, both on national and international level. The platform was launched by the Irish Blockchain Expert Group and backed by Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Department of Finance, leading members of the country’s blockchain industry and representatives from a number of academic institutions. The online platform is a source of useful information about the Irish blockchain ecosystem. It will be used to promote the country as a blockchain hub by highlighting the Irish technology sector and business environment which turn Ireland into an ideal location for blockchain-enabled business, Silicon Republic reports. The services it will be offering include providing information on setting up a new company and support for blockchain projects in Ireland. Its activities, however, will stretch beyond Irish borders. Blockchain Ireland will be working to develop the European and international blockchain ecosystem as well. What are your thoughts on today’s topics in Bitcoin in Brief? Let us know in the comments below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Bitcoin News is growing fast. To reach our global audience, send us a news tip or submit a press release. Let’s work together to help inform the citizens of Earth (and beyond) about this new, important and amazing information network that is Bitcoin. The post Bitcoin in Brief Wednesday: Zug Tests Blockchain to Decide on Fireworks and Digital IDs appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Israeli high-tech sector is currently undergoing a severe talent squeeze, with companies having to compete over employees with higher salaries, stock options and better perks. One such company might have found a new way to attract and retain tech-savvy staff in this environment: offer to pay salaries in bitcoin. Now it only remains to be seen if the country’s authorities will permit the plan. Also Read: Founder of Tron Altcoin Justin Sun Takes Over Bittorrent Inc Spot.IM Wants to Pay Bitcoin Salaries An Internet company with offices in Tel Aviv, Spot.IM, is in negotiations with the Israel Securities Authority (ISA). The talks are said to be primarily about the appropriate exchange rate, a critical issue for making this work, and it is expected that the sides will reach some agreements over the next month or so, which will allow the plan to go forward. The company has also brought the matter to the attention of the Labor Ministry, which says its officials are looking into the subject. The plan is that any employee that wishes it can accept the total or a portion of his paycheck in bitcoin, with the company absorbing the costs of the high shekel conversion fees. Spot.IM is not part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem but of the established Internet industry. It helps media website manage their social engagement and comments section, and among its clients it lists Time Magazine, NBC, Huffington Post, Engadget, Fox News and other big names. The company has raised a total of about $38 million since it was founded in 2012, and its latest round in November 2017 brought in $25 million in Series C funding from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and other venture capitalists. Can They Make Banks Trust Bitcoin? While Israeli law doesn’t officially recognize bitcoin as a currency, nor a security, the tax system does accommodate for including anything of value in calculating salaries. As such, it’s not as if the company would violate the law by not approaching the regulators for permission beforehand. Therefore it seems that, besides an abundance of caution by its legal support, the goal is mainly to prevent future complications with the hostile banking system by getting a seal of approval from the state bureaucrats. Ido Goldberg, Head of Spot.IM’s operations in the country, told Israeli newspaper Calcalist that: “As ones who deal with some of the most advanced technologies every day, we are great believers in the future of cryptographic currencies. Still, currencies are built on trust, and to create such trust companies, organizations and institutions will have to recognize cryptographic currencies as legitimate.” Would you want to accept part of your salary in bitcoin? 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 Internet Company Asks Israeli Authorities Permission to Pay Salaries in Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. Have you ever wondered why, even though the freelance industry has grown tremendously in the past decades, it failed to acknowledge the recession issue at so many levels? We will come to that but let’s first explore the growing industry a little. The industry, without a doubt, is trending upwards. To be fair, it has been growing for a couple of years, to the point that freelancers are nearly 35% of the American workforce these days. Isn’t that impressive? Those numbers show a remarkable paradigm shift in a country that, in other times, used to be the image of the 8-to-5 worker that made his, or her, living while being 100% loyal to the company or employer. Working from the luxury of your home, at the time you feel most productive, is the real deal, and is a method that is still oozing potential for further growth; but at what cost? The freelance industry is not the fairytale that everyone wants to be in anymore. It has got its nightmares. Granted, freelance platforms can connect people with numerous employers in almost every field: data entry jobs, writing, content creation, rewriting, editing, graphic design, programming, web designing, and so on. The world is filled with possibilities and with people that are willing to hire and pay freelancers in a timely and fair way. However, most freelance networks can’t assure you 100% that the employer is going to provide the payment, or that he/she won’t give you an unfair review despite you finishing the task in time and with wonderful results. The never-ending quest for reliability If it isn’t evident by now, the freelance industry is in dire need of a system or environment that can provide a sense of trust in the relationships and daily interactions between the two most relevant actors in the field, which are freelancers and employers. In short, the industry currently lacks the foundations and principle standards to establish a trustworthy relationship between the two. That is where GigTricks comes into play, to try and solve the trust issue in the field. GigTricks will provide all the ingredients to enhance transparency and trust levels between the clients and the freelancers. How does it do it? By implementing the blockchain technology, a very trendy measure that can offer reliability and security when it comes to transactions at all levels. A complete, on-demand ecosystem with endless possibilities Existing freelance platforms are excellent tools to get a job or, if you are an employer, to assign a task to someone under your own terms: you need it to be completed by a specific date and will pay a fixed, previously-agreed amount of money in exchange for the freelancer’s services and talent. However, some of these networks have issues in the reviews and skill rating sections, as they can provide a wrong public image about the business relationship established between the two parties. GigTricks appears as a worldwide solution to those issues, as it represents the first truly 360® freelance and on-demand ecosystem, which will be reviewed and approved by millions of users around the globe. All things considered, the platform will provide invaluable help in the freelancer community, as it is prepared to deal with any trust issues with the help of the blockchain model. The final goal is to put up a fight against global recession by giving people endless opportunities to work from their homes and generate profit to spend on their specific consumer needs. Additionally, the freelancer community faces other challenges related to their activity, such as unstable internet connections. As the world becomes more crowded; services such as connectivity can fail in some locations. To combat that, GigTricks offers an innovative working mode: the blockchain-based Point-of-Sale will let freelancer conduct their business while being offline. The GigTricks PoS devices will allow freelancers to have an integrated profile for both online/offline orders i.e. local clients can make payments in any currency or even crypto, and it will be converted into GBTC at real time. The local order record history will be stored in hyperledger and show in the GigTricks Pro profile. Moreover, the local clients can also submit a review that is after an initial automatic screening and manual filtration will be added to the Pro profile and incorporate in the overall profile rating as well as the individual skill rating of the freelancer. Enhancing freelancer’s reputation with the most complete suite The freelance industry is all about reputation. Employers tend to assess at least 50 applications before committing to giving their project to one freelancer in particular. Chances are that the person employing the subject in question spent hours looking at each profile, and he went for the one who they thought was more qualified. How does a freelancer earn a strong profile? With skill ratings, reviews, and comments from the community, a term that can encompass previous employers, colleagues, and fellow freelancers. The GigTricks Pro feature can be of great help for freelancers all over the world, no matter the location, as it can provide endless job opportunities by showcasing verified online profiles and portfolios. The platforms contain several devices and tools that can make sure all actors stay connected and in constant communication in the entire process, all in a trustworthy and reliable way. The GigTricks Point of Sale (PoS), Marketplace, Social, Pro, and Learning services aim to leverage each other to offer benefits to everyone. These benefits can also come in the form of GigBit Tokens, a special crypto utility token to interact with the GigTricks environment and that can be earned via the GigTricks Social activity. The ecosystem has a number of unblock-able achievements, skill tests, and other premium features, which can be purchased using the mentioned mean of payment. The world’s best referee! The freelance industry is also famous (or notorious, if you prefer the term) for hosting more than one dispute about a project. It is a natural course of things: sometimes, the client and the freelancer can’t seem to agree upon anything. However, these issues are not always solved in the fairest terms in existing freelance platforms. However, GigTricks provides a feasible solution for disputes: the platform encourages an incentivized voting system within the community that adds the one ingredient missing in the equation that is trustworthiness. That way, both parties will have the certainty that the problem was dealt with in a fair way and not by a small, possibly biased staff. All things told, the GigTricks ecosystem is a perfect measure to add trustworthiness to a growing industry. After all, more than 80 million people in North America, Europe, and Asia formally identify themselves as freelancers, and that number doesn’t include fast-rising markets such as South and Latin America. Almost half of the millennials (approximately 47%) are into freelancing, and by current growth rates, by 2025, nearly half of the people in the United States of America will freelance. There is no denying that freelance-related activities represent the future of making money, and GigTricks is one of the best measures to provide the playing field with the right levels of reliability, transparency and security. Join the freelance and on-demand revolution having 5 innovative products integrated into a single ecosystem. Presale will be live from 1st July 2018 to 30th July 2018. Telegram: “https://t.me/gigtricks” Contact Email Address richard@2xico.agency Supporting Link https://www.gigtricks.com/ This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: GigTricks Launches Global on Demand Platform for the Gig Industry appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The police in Japan are cracking down on the illegal use of personal computers for cryptocurrency mining. Multiple prefectural police departments are currently investigating one particular case and pursuing criminal charges, which would make it the first criminal case in Japan where computers are illegally used for mining cryptocurrencies. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Police to Press Charges A police investigation is underway in Japan over the hijacking of personal computers to mine cryptocurrencies, the Mainichi reported. “According to investigative sources, people involved in the case set up websites in the fall of 2017 to install a program on viewers’ computers and use the machines for mining the monero cryptocurrency,” the news outlet conveyed, elaborating: If police press charges, it will be the first case in Japan where illegal use of computers in cryptocurrency mining would become a criminal case. The incident is being pursued jointly by multiple prefectural police departments including those in Kanagawa, Chiba and Tochigi in central Japan. Growing Use of Coinhive Three people are being investigated including a website designer for using a web browser-based mining program, Coinhive, to mine crypto using website visitors’ computers. The program, freely available online, allows website owners to mine cryptocurrencies using the processing power of their visitors’ devices. Japanese cyber security and defense company founded in Los Angeles, Trend Micro, detected 181,376 terminals running mining software from January through March this year in Japan, the publication conveyed, adding that this is a substantial increase from 767 in the same period a year ago. However, not all uses of the mining program are malicious. Last month, Unicef Australia launched a website to allow visitors to donate computer power to mine cryptocurrency using Authedmine – an opt-in version of Coinhive’s API. In February, mainstream web magazine Salon started offering visitors the option to opt-in to mine crypto instead of viewing ads. The use of Coinhive has been growing due to its ease of use and profitability. In its research published in March, Cyren Security Lab found that domains with mining scripts rose 725%. In October last year, Adguard independently published a study showing that over half a billion people had been mining crypto without knowing it through websites using Coinhive and another similar program called Jsecoin. Criminal Case Justification The Japanese investigators are pursuing the case criminally “because the installation of the mining program was done without the consent of the computer owners and those machines were forced to function in ways not intended by their legitimate owners,” the Mainichi detailed, adding: Police do not intend to press charges over websites that clearly say they are placing mining software on visitors’ computers. The investigators will only press charges against “websites without clear notices about mining, because they judged that users remain in the dark about the use of their computer power, users often can deny ad distribution to their computers,” the news outlet described. The Yokohama Summary Court has already ordered one person to pay 100,000 yen (~US$906) for illegally storing a computer virus. However, the defendant “argues that it was not a virus as it uses a method similar to distributing advertisements online. The case is set to proceed to a fully fledged trial at the Yokohama District Court.” The defendant’s lawyer, Takashi Hirano, confirmed that he intends to “wage a full-scale legal fight.” What do you think of the Japanese police’s action? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinhive. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Japan Cracks Down on Illegal Use of Computers to Mine Crypto appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Major Latin American bitcoin exchange, Buda, recently suddenly become the subject of a banking embargo in Colombia, according to local reports. Buda similarly experienced the termination of its Chilean banking services in March of this year. Also Read: Six Major Banks in Chile Sued by Another Cryptocurrency Exchange Buda Suffers Termination of Banking Services in Colombia Buda, a Latin American bitcoin exchange formerly known as Surbtc servicing the Argentinian, Chilean, Colombian, and Peruvian markets, suddenly became the subject of a financial blockade from Colombian banking institutions. The sudden termination of the exchange’s Colombian bank accounts has disrupted customer withdrawals, which are expected to be processed as normal from June 13th onward. The CEO of Buda, Alejandro Beltran, confirmed that Bancolombia, Davivienda, and BBVA have all terminated financial services provided to the exchange via an email sent to customers. Buda also sought to assure customers that despite their funds are safely protected despite the disruptions to exchange’s operations. No Other Exchanges Appear to Have Been Targeted Local reports have attributed embargo to a warning issued by the Superintendence in February that encouraged banks to avoid having ties to Buda.com. The embargo does not target other Columbian exchanges, with local media reporting that “other local crypto exchanges remain open and unimpeded,” as neither Panda Exchange nor Bitinka has reported terminations of banking services. The financial embargo against Buda has come at a time of increasing parliamentary dialogue regarding cryptocurrencies in Colombia. During a recent debate in the Colombian Senate attended by representatives of the country’s Financial Superintendency, Bank of the Republic, and National Banking Association, Senator Antonio Navarro Wolff asserted that “the State assumed the task of warning about the risks of operations with cryptocurrencies but did not take actions to prevent or hinder these operations.” “It is necessary to advance the issue of cryptocurrency, to be at the level of the countries that use this technology,” Senator Wolff added. Buda Faces Banking Hurdles in Chile In March, Buda, alongside cryptocurrency exchanges Cryptomarket, and Orionx, became the subject of an aggressive banking embargo from Chile’s seven major financial institutions, including state-owned bank, Banco del Estado de Chile. Buda filed a lawsuit with Chile’s Court for the Defense of Free Competition, leading to the court ordering Banco del Estado de Chile, Scotiabank, and Itau Corpbanca to reopen the accounts of Buda and Cryptomkt. Banco del Estado de Chile has confirmed that it will comply with the court’s wishes, however, neither Scotiabank or Tiau have indicated that their intention to reopen the exchanges’ accounts. Do you think that Buda will be driven from the Colombian markets? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Buda Want a comprehensive list of the top 500 cryptocurrencies and see their prices and overall market valuation? Check out Satoshi Pulse for all that hot market action! The post Crypto Exchange Buda Subject of Sudden Banking Embargo in Colombia appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The former chair of the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Sheila Bair, recently published an article imploring the U.S. Federal Reserve to explore central bank-issued digital currencies (CBDCs). In the article, Mrs. Bair argues that the development of a state-issued cryptocurrency could “reduc[e] the risk of financial crises” and “improv[e] monetary policy tools.” Also Read: Twitter Experience Worsens, Ether Fake Giveaways Taking Over Sheila Bair Authors Article Advocating Central Bank-Issued Digital Currency The former FDIC chair begins the article by discussing the increasing proliferation of financial crises across major economies, such as the “Europe[an] sovereign debt crisis” and national crises recently felt in “Portugal, Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine, [and] Brazil.” The article describes “Lack of confidence in [the] banking system” as the principal catalyst for Satoshi Nakamoto’s choice to develop bitcoin, asserting that “He (she, they?) originally intended it as a widely accepted method of payment that could function completely outside of the banking system.” However, Mrs. Bair states that “Unfortunately […], bitcoin has failed miserably as a method of payment” – blaming such on the “extreme volatility [that] has made it popular as a speculative investment and store of value.” The former FDIC chair advocates that central banks issue their own digital money, describing such as “a radical idea that […] is gaining credibility among an increasing number of mainstream economists and central bankers themselves.” Mrs. Bair describes central bank-issued digital currency as “presumably […] be[ing] as stable as traditional fiat currency, while reducing the risks of financial crises and improving monetary tools.” Benefits of CBDCs Mrs. Bair asserts that the development and issuance of CBDC could provide greater financial stability in times of economic crisis, stating that “in times of extreme stress, people lose confidence in their banks. So they pull their uninsured money out of the banking system, disrupting the free flow of payments. […] However, suppose consumers could convert their bank deposits into a digital currency that would be issued and backed by the Fed? […] They would no longer need to worry about bank instability.” The former FDIC chair also states that “the Fed would have much more effective tools for conducting monetary policy to address economic cycles.” “The Fed now manipulates the money supply through buying and selling securities with a select group of big banks and by paying them interest on the reserves they deposit at the Fed — currently a tidy 1.75%,” Mrs. Bair continued. “When the Fed wants to stimulate the economy — as it did after the crisis — it buys securities from these banks and reduces the rates it pays them on reserves, inducing them to lend the proceeds to the real economy to get a better return. When it wants to raise rates — as it is doing now — it reduces its holdings of securities and increases the rates it pays on reserves. This is a nice deal for the banks, but hasn’t done a whole lot to help the rest of us. The past 10 years are proof positive that current monetary tools are woefully inadequate to stimulate broad-based economic growth. The super rich have gotten a lot richer, while the middle class has struggled.” CBDCs May Bring “Severely Negative Consequences” for “Current Bank-Dominated Payments System” The former FDIC chair emphasizes the creative destruction that a “wholesale shift from bank accounts to CBDC” would have on the “current bank-dominated payments system,” stating that such “could have severely negative consequences for credit availability given banks’ reliance on deposits to funds loans.” Mrs. Bair asserts that “the costs and inefficiencies in the current payments system would be greatly reduced.” The former FDIC chair claims that consumers would benefit from “no longer need[ing] to maintain checking accounts, with their expensive maintenance and overdraft fees, to effectuate payments,” whilst businesses accepting CBDC “could avoid the interchange fees charged by banks and their card networks – fees that are particularly burdensome to small firms.” What are your thoughts on central bank-issued digital currencies? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia Get our news feed on your site. Check our widget services. The post CBDC Could Have “Severely Negative Consequences” for “Bank-Dominated Payments System” – Former FDIC Chair appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Following the announcement by South Korean crypto exchange Coinrail that it has been hacked, a local publication reported that some banks had identified suspicious transactions at the exchange and stopped providing services to company months before the incident. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Suspicious Transactions Detected South Korea’s seventh-largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinrail, announced that it was hacked on Sunday, June 10, with the thieves targeting several altcoins. The damage is estimated to be around 45 billion won (~US$42 million), according to local media. The hardest hit was Pundi X’s NPXS, a recently-launched token that accounts for roughly two-thirds of Coinrail’s trading volume. Other coins allegedly stolen include ATX, NPER, and DENT, the exchange wrote on its website. On Monday, Chosun reported that, back in February, some local banks detected money-laundering activities at Coinrail. The publication quoted a bank official revealing: Several banks that traded with Coinrail found suspicious money-laundering transactions in Coinrail in February, and some banks took steps to stop their fund deposits in April. The banks, however, did not offer any specific reasons for the service suspension, the news outlet noted. In South Korea, banks can legally refuse to service crypto exchanges under the Financial Transaction Reporting and Use Act and Virtual Currency Anti-Money Laundering Guideline if they do not use real-name accounts. The real-name system was implemented by the regulators at the end of January. However, the conversion rate has been low. Security Breach and Police Investigation The notice on Coinrail’s website. The Coinrail incident has attracted a lot of media attention because its alleged hack would be the largest cyber theft in South Korea to date by the equivalent won amount. Two other major hacks in the country concern another exchange, Youbit, which suffered security breaches in April, and again in December. Youbit was operating under the name Yapizon in April, however, changed its name after the first hack. At the time of this writing, Coinrail’s exchange is offline and there is a system maintenance note on its website. The notice states that currently 70% of the total coins at Coinrail have been safely moved to cold storage. “About 80% of the coins that have been confirmed to be leaked have been frozen/ withdrawn/ redeemed or equivalent…while the remainder is under investigation with investigators, related exchanges, and coin developers,” the exchange wrote, adding: The exact damage of the leaked coins / tokens is currently being confirmed, which may require some time with the coins. “Investigators visited the exchange yesterday to ascertain whether it was an accident or a crime,” the Korea Times quoted the National Police Agency Cyber Bureau on Monday. The police, the Korea Internet Development Agency (KISA), and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Information are investigating the case, Ddaily detailed. “KISA has been on the scene since the day of the 10th and is analyzing the cause of the incident jointly with the National Police Agency.” What do you think of Coinrail’s alleged hack? Let us know in the comments section below. Editor’s note: Some quotes have been translated from Korean. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Coinrail. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Report: Suspicious Transactions at Korean Exchange Coinrail Months Before Hack appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Over the past six months, cryptocurrencies have been steadily entering the mainstream world more and more by being featured on billboards, newspapers, radio broadcasts and television shows. Now, this July residents from the New England region will be able to hear a weekly radio broadcast called Cryptomania which aims to educate the masses about the benefits of cryptocurrencies and broadcasts every Saturday on Boston’s FM radio signal 104.9. Also Read: Canadian Exchanges to Report Transactions Over $10k per Proposed Regulations New England Blockchain Group Launches Cryptomania Radio Broadcast on Boston’s FM 104.9 Residents from Boston, New Hampshire, and the North Shore will soon be able to tune in to an FM radio broadcast every Saturday that will feature discussions about bitcoin and cryptocurrency solutions. Listeners can set their dials to the FM radio signal 104.9 this July as the Massachusetts-headquartered organization New England Blockchain LLC (NEB) will launch its first show “Cryptomania – Bitcoin & Beyond.” The show was created by the NEB founder Dana McIntyre who will also host the show with his sidekick Jameson Rust. The two say that the broadcast will feature a “simple and humorist explanation of Bitcoin and Blockchain technology.” The show aims to educate the public and show them how cryptocurrencies operate and detail how easy it is for anyone to purchase a small fraction of bitcoin. “Hosting the first weekly FM radio show on Cryptos in America is a real honor for us and highlights our commitment to bring relevant, cutting-edge content to our listening audience and the mainstream public,” McIntyre stated this week. Cryptomania will air every Saturday at 9:30 EDT starting this July on Boston’s FM 104.9. Every Saturday Two Million North Shore Residents Can Tune In The show will air every Saturday at 9:30 Eastern Standard and can be listened to in other areas in the world by tuning into Northshore1049.com. The show will have a large audience to entice as the FM radio signal 104.9 reaches areas in southern New Hampshire and North of Boston and Merrimack Valley regions of Massachusetts which accounts for a population of over 2 million residents. The announcement for the new radio show in Boston follows other mainstream broadcasts announced over the past few months. For instance, news.Bitcoin.com reported on the Youtuber Jason Appleton planning to launch his Crypto Crow Show on “CBS, the CW and Roku to over 47 million homes.” Another example is when the post-cable network Cheddar announced this past March it would be broadcasting a thirty-minute show about cryptocurrencies called Crypto Craze. Bitcoiners are sure to welcome the new radio broadcast Cryptomania that’s dedicated to teaching people about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the Boston region. However, the NEB organization’s upcoming broadcast this July is not the first weekly FM cryptocurrency radio show in the U.S. as the Austin based Crypto Show has been airing on 89.1 FM for years now. What do you think about a radio broadcast about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies airing throughout New England’s North Shore region? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock and 104.9 FM Want a comprehensive list of the top 500 cryptocurrencies and see their prices and overall market valuation? Check out Satoshi Pulse for all that hot market action! The post A New Cryptocurrency Radio Broadcast Launches on Boston’s FM 104.9 appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Justin Sun, the founder of “decentralized web” altcoin Tron, has reportedly taken over Bittorrent Inc, the San Francisco-headquartered company founded in 2004 to manage the ongoing development of the Bittorrent peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. Also Read: Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: POT Saves World, Coinbase Pumps ETC, Binance Wants EUR TRX Founder Buys Bittorrent Justin Sun, a former Chief Representative of the Greater China Region for Ripple, closed an acquisition deal for Bittorrent last week and employees have been notified but asked not to talk about it with the media, Variety has now reported, ending weeks of speculation. The financial details of the deal weren’t made publicly available as the two sides haven’t officially announced the acquisition yet. Additionally, just a number of Bittorent’s shareholders have already been contacted by the transfer agent responsible for the transaction according to the report. Comparing the two ventures Sun is involved with now can tell us a lot about the current state of the cryptocurrency scene, as well as the possible impact of the ease of crowd-funding on crypto projects’ relationship with the established technology industry. Sign of Things to Come? While the Bittorrent protocol is used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and constitutes a significant share of all internet traffic, the company behind it has found few ways to monetize, like running ads on the µtorrent client. But in total revenue, Bittorrent has raised only $35.8 million in three rounds over the fourteen years of its existence. In contrast to Bittorrent Inc, Tron is barely out of the gate and already has a market capitalization of about $3 billion right now (down from as high as over $6 billion) thanks to the price of its TRX token. In fact, Tron only had its official launch for the mainnet a few days ago (on May 31) and its planned “Independence Day” is still twelve days away, meaning when TRX will no longer be just another ERC20 token. Those who believe that Tron will fulfil its dream of building a decentralized web may see this as an indication that crypto companies are taking over the old guard. Cynics, on the other hand, might say that we’ve finally found a good business model for ICOs: raise ungodly amounts of money with no actual product or service and then use those funds to take over existing companies. Is this a sign that the cryptocurrency industry has begun taking over the internet? 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 Founder of Tron Altcoin Justin Sun Takes Over Bittorrent Inc appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There aren’t many things that bitcoin core and bitcoin cash supporters can agree on. If the two camps were a couple, they could reasonably be described as having irreconcilable differences. When Satoshi’s Place, a virtual graffiti wall powered by the Lightning Network (LN) sprang up, it was inevitable that the BTC and BCH factions would grab their spray cans and start a turf war. The results are amusing to say the least. Also read: Twitter Experience Worsens, Ether Fake Giveaways Taking Over Phalluses, Blasphemy, and Crypto Memes Welcome to Satoshi’s Place, an ephemeral art wall where anyone can pay a satoshi for a pixel using the Lightning Network, BTC’s much-vaunted and controversial layer two scaling solution. For next to nothing, anyone with an LN connection can bedaub slogans on the virtual wall, but there’s a catch – the artwork will only remain for as long as it takes for the next buyer to overwrite it. It’s a simple concept, but one that has set the stage for a series of epic battles between BTC and BCH supporters. Much like the long-running feud between the Montagues and Capulets in Romeo & Juliet, the origins of the BTC/BCH beef have been lost to the mists of time. Ostensibly it’s about scaling (BCH supporters prefer on-chain scaling and bitcoin as a medium of exchange rather than store of value while BTC proponents prefer the opposite), but in truth the camps are so diametrically opposed now that blockchain scaling is merely the excuse for battle. This week, Satoshi’s Place has formed the ground zero for the tribes to exchange insults and deface one another’s logos. A selection of the crowdsourced ‘art’ to be found at Satoshi’s Place Welcome to Bitcoin, Now Get Out Most of the jockeying for bitcoin supremacy taking place on Satoshi’s Place is harmless internet banter; a childish manifestation of the sort of put downs that are normally exchanged on crypto Twitter. To any newcomers to bitcoin, the digital conflagration manifested on Satoshi’s Place must seem utterly bewildering, but to regulars it’s all par for the course. While the concept of a wall filled with MS Paint-level genitalia sounds like the worst possible advert for bitcoin, the project harks back to the cryptocurrency’s anarchic beginnings. Over the past six months, the bitcoin cash ecosystem has been blessed with a slew of experimental projects that arguably rekindle the original spirit of bitcoin. Blockpress, Matter, and Memo are all examples of BCH experiments that combine education with entertainment. Satoshi’s Place is one of the few BTC projects in the same vein to have emerged in recent months. Satoshi’s Place Is a Success But the Jury’s Still Out on Lightning Network It’s likely that the BTC and BCH communities will have forgotten about Satoshi’s Place soon and moved on to another virtual battleground. The website’s current popularity, however, shows the potential of Lightning Network, whilst giving BCH supporters a chance to point out its flaws. Lately, BCH advocates have highlighted shortcomings such as the need for funds in an LN payment channel to be sent in order to make room for receiving funds and the necessity for a wallet to be online in order to receive off-chain funds. LN supporters, in turn, will counter that the technology is still in its infancy and will operate a lot more smoothly by the time it’s market ready. When nuanced discussion about the merits of Lightning Network breaks down, core and cash supporters can at least settle the debate emphatically now: by heading over to Satoshi’s Place and daubing dicks on their opponents. What do you make of Satoshi’s Place and Lightning Network? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Satoshi’s Place. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Satoshi’s Place Is the New Battleground for Bitcoin Core and Cash Supporters appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

RBI, the central bank of India, has not made a proper effort to thoroughly research the nature and usage of cryptocurrencies before issuing its crypto ban. This is according to a reply sent by the bank to a Right to Information query filed by a lawyer. Copies of the communication have been distributed on social media and published by local crypto outlets. Also read: Pakistanis Find Ways to Trade Bitcoin Rendering Ban Ineffective The Right to Know Why On April 5 of this year, India’s central bank issued a controversial decree directing all regulated financial institutions to quit providing services to businesses dealing in cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, giving banks three months to comply. The move was formally motivated by the need to protect consumers and prevent money laundering. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also announced the formation of a working group to study the feasibility of issuing a state-backed cryptocurrency. This week, however, it became evident that the RBI has not made any serious effort to thoroughly study and understand the nature, principles, and usage of cryptocurrencies before issuing the ban. No internal committee had been formed to investigate the purported risks associated with trading digital coins and no officer or team of experts had been tasked to produce a substantiated decision. Indian exchanges and individual traders were hit hard by the measure. The ban has been challenged in the Supreme Court, and some trading platforms have decided to leave the country in search of more favorable jurisdictions. Earlier today, a Twitter user, @Blockchainlaw91, posted the Right to Information enquiry filed with the RBI, along with the reply sent back by the central bank. According to Kunal Barchha, cofounder and director of the company behind the upcoming crypto exchange Coinrecoil, the author of the query is Mr. Varun Sethi, an Indian blockchain lawyer. Coinrecoil’s operator, Kali Digital Eco-Systems, has appealed to the High Court in Delhi against the recent RBI crackdown. Q&A with a Central Bank Mr. Sethi has asked the RBI several relevant questions, including if there was any committee constituted within the RBI that had determined the risks being associated with trading in virtual currencies. He also wanted to know how these risks were determined, and if any responsibility has been entrusted to an officer or a team to understand the nature, working of cryptocurrencies and the possibility of their usage in India, the local outlet Crypto News reported. To all of these questions the RBI has replied negatively and done away with referencing its multiple circulars mentioned as justifications for its actions. The bank has also noted that it “was a member of the Inter Disciplinary Committee constituted by the Finance Ministry and the Indian government in March, 2017, to examine the status of virtual currencies and suggest regulations,” as if that provides enough legitimacy to issue a ban. The RBI also admits it has done no research before reaching a conclusion on its stance when it released a circular on December 24, 2013, reading that “The Reserve Bank of India has today cautioned the users, holders and traders of virtual currencies (VCs), including bitcoins, about the potential financial, operational, legal customer protection and security related risks that they are exposing themselves to.” The window provided by India’s central bank for financial services providers to comply with its directive ends on July 5. By now it’s obvious that the RBI has neither done any research in regards to cryptocurrencies, nor has it contacted any foreign counterparts in order to understand how the crypto technology works before taking its decisions. Why the Fight Kunal Barchha Speaking to news.Bitcoin.com, Coinrecoil’s cofounder, Mr. Kunal Barchha, explained why the Indian crypto community is waging the struggle against the RBI’s ban: “The foremost reason we are fighting is because we know that banning is next to impossible and it will make things worse for everyone – for the Reserve Bank, for the government, for the tax department, and for the user. In addition, it will push India back in reference to blockchain adoption across the world. We always have an option to relocate to other country to carry our business, but that’s not the solution. If we cannot convince our own government, we cannot expect other governments to support us.” Central banks do have authority to ban or restrict commercial banks from a certain industry only when it is declared as completely illegal, Barchha noted. “In the case of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies, that process is completely missing, as the government of India has not yet declared cryptocurrencies illegal and so we have challenged the RBI’s circular,” he explained. Coinrecoil’s director also shared that “The Supreme Court of India has instructed every High Court in the country to transfer pending petitions against the circular to it and thus our petition is also now in the Apex court.” Kunal Barchha added that the next hearing is scheduled for July 20, which is two weeks after the deadline of the ban. “For the same, we are in talks with our lawyers to see if we can request the court to hear us before the circular comes into effect,” he revealed. Do you think the failure of RBI to understand cryptocurrencies is the main reason for the crackdown on the industry in India? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter (@Blockchainlaw91), Linkedin (Kunal Barchha) 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 Reserve Bank of India Admits Issuing Crypto Ban Without Research appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A new hardware wallet has been launched by the South Korean financial tech firm Keypair. The company’s Keywallet Touch has an interesting design as it’s shaped like a credit card and utilizes NFC technology. The company says the device’s smart card chipset supports cryptocurrencies like bitcoin cash, ethereum, bitcoin core and litecoin, while also providing FIDO Universal 2nd Factor Authentication (U2F). Also read: Bitcoin Cash Innovation Continues with the First On-Chain Atomic Bet South Korean Firm Keypair Launches Keywallet Touch Hardware Wallet There’s been a slew of new cryptocurrency hardware wallets coming into the ecosystem and the South Korean company Keypair has launched a new model. This past March news.Bitcoin.com reported the firm’s previous design, the Keywallet Classic, and a few new hardware wallet manufacturers stemming from South Korea as demand for the devices has grown exponentially in that region. The Keywallet Classic debuted this January at the CES Electronics Show and the product has also been selling on Ebay. The company’s latest device the Keywallet Touch is a hardware wallet shaped like a credit card, similar to the Coolwallet device we reported on a few weeks ago. Just like a credit card, the Keywallet Touch is 85.60 × 53.98 mm with rounded corners and built-in NFC technology that interacts with a mobile phone (Android). The phone application recognizes the card allowing users to send and receive bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), bitcoin core (BTC), ripple (XRP), ethereum classic (ETC), and ERC20 tokens. The Keywallet Touch is $69.99 USD which is cheaper than a lot of other hardware wallets, but if you want to use a PC then you’ll require a USB connected reader ($69.99) that is not yet available to the public. The Keywallet Touch specs. Credit Card Shape and No Batteries CEO Kevin CK Lee of the hardware-based security solution company explains the new hardware wallet card comes with “first-class” security. “The card is built with Secure Element and its OS and Crypto libraries made by the firm. It also has CC and Eal5+ and CMVP ready product,” Lee noted during the launch. The company believes cryptocurrency enthusiasts will appreciate the credit card shaped feature so it can be carried easily, and the fact that the device has no batteries adds to the wallet’s overall durability. The Keywallet Touch software can be found at the Google Play store and the user interface acts like a portfolio if you hold multiple cryptocurrencies. The Keywallet Touch connects to mobile phones using NFC technology and to connect to a PC users need the Keywallet reader which is not yet available. Keypair says that a traditional wallet OS or mobile phone platform keeps the private keys in “insecure areas (HDD, Flash Memory, etc.)”. Furthermore, Keypair explains that an iOS version of its wallet client is on the way, and mobile phones with built-in fingerprint sensors can be used with the Keywallet Touch. One thing to note is this hardware wallet is very new, just like the Coolwallet hardware wallet which has the same credit card shaped design, which means both of these wallets don’t have many reviews online. Some people will want to wait until this product is mass produced and reviewed by reputable third parties. What do you think about the Keywallet Touch? Let us know your thoughts on this new hardware wallet in the comment section below. Disclaimer: Bitcoin.com does not endorse this product. Bitcoin.com and the author are 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 with this hardware wallet platform. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Images via Shutterstock, and the Keywallet web portal. 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 Korean Firm Keypair Launches Credit Card-Shaped NFC Hardware Wallet appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In recent regulatory news, Brett Redfearn, the director of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s Division of Trading and Markets, has described the self-reporting efforts of cryptocurrency exchanges as “underwhelm[ing],” Hydro-Quebec has again suspended new applications from mining companies seeking to operate in the province, and the SEC has published a new page on its website encouraging consumers to “Get hip to the three ‘Rs’ of ICOs: Risks, Rewards, and Responsibilities.” Also Read: Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: POT Saves World, Coinbase Pumps ETC, Binance Wants EUR SEC Director “Underwhelmed” by Self-Reporting Among Crypto Exchanges Brett Redfearn, the director of the SEC’s division of trading and markets, stated that the regulator is “underwhelmed” by the efforts made by cryptocurrency exchanges to conform to the agency’s registration and self-reporting requirements during an interview with CNBC at the Global Exchange and Brokerage Conference last week. “We’re underwhelmed by the enthusiasm for coming within the regulatory structure right now,” Mr. Redfearn stated. “There are [so many] exchanges that are trading ICOs that I would think that we would see more registrations.” Mr. Redfearn also declined to comment on whether ETH or XRP comprise securities, however, stated that the SEC will issue statements regarding “at least one of those products forthcoming in the future.” Hydro-Quebec Again Suspends Applications for Mining Projects Canadian state-owned utility provider and the fourth largest hydropower producer in the world, Hydro-Quebec, has again halted new applications from prospective cryptocurrency mining operations. The halting of new applications was spurred by a request from the provincial government that Hydro-Quebec restrict the total power allotted to cryptocurrency miners to no more than 500 megawatts – a small fraction of the 17,000 megawatts thus far requested by mining companies seeking to operate in Quebec. Pierre Moreau, Quebec’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, reportedly stated that he asked Hydro-Quebec to suspend the approval of new virtual currency mining operations until regulators determine appropriate guidelines for the province’s mining industry. Mr. Moreau added that the province will seek to develop guidelines enabling it to select “the best among the companies” seeking to establish mining operations in Quebec. Eric Filion, Hydro-Quebec’s Distribution President, indicated that the new regulatory apparatus will seek to bolster Quebec’s economy whilst ensuring cheap power is available to residents. “Get Hip to the Three ‘Rs’ of ICOs: Risks, Rewards, and Responsibilities” The SEC has published a page on its website which, according to its meta-description, seeks to help investors and market “Get hip to the three ‘Rs’ of ICOs.” The page emphasized that ICOs may comprise “securities offerings,” that ICOs “may need to be registered”, and emphasizes that whilst tokens “can be called a variety of names, […] merely calling a token a ‘utility’ token or structuring it to provide some utility does not prevent the token from being a security.” The page also implores prospective investors to conduct independent research and due diligence, and warns the promotion of unregistered securities may result in legal consequences. What are your thoughts on the current regulatory climate surrounding cryptocurrencies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Why not keep track of the price with one of Bitcoin.com’s widget services. The post Regulations Round-Up: SEC “Underwhelmed” by Exchanges’ Reporting, Quebec Halts New Mining Operations Again appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Fake ether token giveaways are clogging Twitter threads, and seemingly by the second. Targeting well-known ecosystem figures, doppelganger accounts are created, complete with matching avatars. A particularly active post can almost assuredly be counted on to receive seemingly organic calls for participation in free crypto programs hosted by the respective personality. And now they’re incorporating Google+ redirects. And it’s working. And Twitter seems to be either doing nothing about it or is just plain impotent. Also read: Crypto and Virtual Reality Meet in Ken Liu’s Science Fiction Twitter Crypto Celebs Hounded by Fake Giveaways Ari Paul, investor guru from Blocktower hedge fund fame, was on another multiple tweet philosophical lecture, spaced out and numbered. The topic was a meditation on over the counter and regular exchanges’ impacts on price. It proved so interesting, no personage less than Laura Shin, Forbes journalist, popular podcast host, and ecosystem gadfly attempted a read. She soon came up against what more and more Twitter users are facing: fairly elaborate ether (ETH) come-ons, fake giveaways using mirror’d accounts. Ms. Shin’s trademark Valley Girl patois could almost be heard echoing through her corresponding response tweets of disgust and alarm: “Ari wrote an interesting thread, but FYI, @twitter and @jack, my experience reading it was marred by all the spam accounts touting free ETH that made it harder for me to find the real discussion.” Just a few clicks later, and she discovered another awful truth: she’d been personally compromised. Someone with the account @XaedenJ was using Ms. Shin’s professional reputation and likeness to tacitly approve a 10,000 Ethereum giveaway, and it directs readers to a website asking for payment. The scam even went so far as to create a thread conversation about the giveaway, in effect dialoguing with itself. “If you’re late for this event,” the fake Laura Shin posted below the landing page advert in the thread, “you’ll get your investment back at once!” A little more digging, and she found the offending scam post garnered a quick 28 likes, which were probably from bots designed for the very purpose. These could seem rather enticing to cryptocurrency noobs, and thus the problem. In utter exasperation, Ms. Shin, the real Ms. Shin, tweeted, “Someone please create a better Twitter. This is ridiculous.” At press time, the offending address, @XaedenJ, was scrubbed by Twitter, taken down permanently, and way too late. A common auto response certainly not helping Twitter in a branding war. Over 4,000 ETH Scams Logged, Hundreds Ongoing Ms. Shin’s platform, her access to movers and shakers within the industry, made it easy for Twitter to recognize the problem and take immediate-ish action. But, again, it was too late. It went out there, and no doubt some were probably lured. It, of course, isn’t just Ms. Shin who is being hounded. Scam landing page. For whatever reason, ether (ETH) tokens make these sorts of scams very easy. Part of the Stanford Mafia, and cofounder of crypto-related startups Bloom and Cognito, John Backus, performed a quick, back of the envelope calculation about ETH related scams. He found “ETH ‘scam’ giveaways staggering numbers: 8,148 ETH ($4.9M) received (between scams and baits); A fool sent 30 ETH to fake Erik Voorhees […]; Over 4000 scams logged; Almost 700 “ongoing” scams logged.” He was quick to differentiate scams related to Twitter, roughly 500 of that number derived from the social media site, of the overall thousands of ETH giveaway frauds cataloged. His calculus includes any “kind of scam, including phishing scams that have nothing to do with Twitter,” he typed. Note how Twitter’s CEO responded over four months ago. It’s to the point where a tracking website exists to keep abreast of ETH scams as they happen, are discovered, and end. Appropriately titled Ethereum Scam Database, it’s maintained by My Crypto, and includes a Github reference along with detailed reporting instructions. The project is open source, however “All reports end up in a private Slack to protect people’s privacy. The reports can be read by all team members of [My Crypto] and they can decide whether the report makes it to the blacklist,” they explained. My Crypto recommends “Use cold storage – Buy a Ledger Nano S or a Trezor; Bookmark your crypto sites – Use those bookmarks and only those. Only send funds to trusted addresses – Double-check what address you’re sending ETH to. Look up the address at etherscan.io and check if there are bad reviews; Never trust any discord/slack/telegram/reddit message – Don’t ever fall for messages that say you can get free ETH or that a hack has occurred.” Do you think such scams hurt the brands of Twitter and ETH? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Twitter. 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 Twitter Experience Worsens, Ether Fake Giveaways Taking Over appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

This is a paid press release, which contains forward looking statements, and should be treated as advertising or promotional material. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support this product/service. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the press release. The first step towards blockchain interoperability The crypto world took a giant leap forward this week with Essentia announcing their multi-chain passwordless dAppstore. This innovation has led many to believe the future of interoperability between blockchains and decentralized services is not as far off as originally estimated, here’s why… DApps are proving beneficial for many industries, but they notoriously lack interoperability. One explanation is that each blockchain requires currency generation to function – and as we know – these currencies, or tokens, are incredibly volatile and any attempts at pegging to a stable currency have fallen short (see Vitalik Buterin – inventor of Ethereum’s – hilarious parody with his WTF coin). This has meant that dApps largely stand on their own while users have to face the impracticality of purchasing and holding dozens of tokens. Hence, for interoperability to work, a single token which can operate across multiple blockchains is required. The integrated dApp store solves this problem, the Essentia protocol enables users to integrate dApps onto the platform and access them entirely through the ESS token. The protocol is also accessible through a seed or hardware wallet device, making it possible to login and access +1k of dApps without a single password. As the old proverb goes… “two birds, one stone blockchain”. Essentia co-founder Matteo Gianpietro Zago remarked that one of the primary motivations behind building the project was to fix the problem of fragmentation in the Web 3.0. “We now have over a thousand credible blockchain projects in existence. One for decentralized exchanges, another for storage, VPN’s, social media and so on. The problem is, mainstream adoption has been restricted because of the difficulty in accessing and managing these platforms” Trustless Voting System with a monthly winner Through a community lead poll, Essentia users put forward dApp integration requests, ensuring the best and most popular dApps gain interoperability. In order to achieve our goal of widespread adoption, we need promote valuable ideas, projects and visions, therefore it must be a contributed effort. “Innovation requires the ability to collaborate and share ideas with other people” – Bill Gates We wouldn’t be the first to quote Gates, but he didn’t revolutionize the tech world by mistake. Even here, 20 years ago, he had captured the essence of the collaborative decentralized movement and blockchain economy before it had even begun. The difference is, the Web 3.0 will not burden end-users. Token economics within the Essentia dAppstore At its very essence, the ESS token is a utility token. It allows the bearer to use the Essentia platform/framework in a number of ways: Every month Essentia will run a community-wide vote to choose which project to integrate next into the platform. Based on suggestions from both the community and the team, 10 projects will qualify and the top 3 projects will be selected for integration. Votes are cast by ESS holders at a cost of 1 ESS per vote with a limit of XX votes per wallet address. The total ESS earned for that month will go towards the block rewards for stakes and node operators. When staked (locked under specific terms), developers are allowed to upload scripts and dApps into the dAppstore. Developers also earn rewards in ESS tokens based on the usage and popularity of their scripts/dApps The amount staked is lost if it is proven that the script/dApp uploaded was harmful or against good-will. In order to integrate different dApps within your personal launchpad/Essence, you require ESS tokens Passwordless. Trustless. Endless. The scale of what can be achieved is enormous and the possibilities are endless. Take what Apple’s App Store did for developers and end-users for instance, the dApp store is merely its logical evolution. With the tide of mainstream adoption nigh, people will be able operate in an environment without middle-men taking cuts, and without the fear of ownership and privacy breaches. Try the dApp Store for yourself in the Essentia Demo! To be a part of their growing community join their Telegram channel. Contact Email Address matteo@essentia.one Supporting Link www.essentia.one This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Essentia.One to Release an Interoperable Multi-Chain dAppstore appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The big story of the day is that a cannabis-themed cryptocurrency has been able to stage an international media coup, capturing the attention of news organizations around the world during a historic moment. Additional stories covered in today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief include Coinbase pumping ETC and Binance’s plans to add EUR. Also Read: Canadian Exchanges to Report Transactions Over $10k per Proposed Regulations POT Prevents Nuclear Armageddon There are three ways to go if you want to get your token on mainstream news these days: get spectacularly hacked, get someone killed, or help bring about peace between two nuclear-armed rivals. Yes, that latter approach is actually real. Potcoin has been sponsoring the peace missions of Dennis Rodman to North Korea for a while now and it is bearing fruit. Two of the basketball star’s friends, US President Trump and Kim Jong-un, have met in an unprecedented occurrence and POT was able to get into the limelight of this histrionic event. As an example of how much priceless exposure this stunt has brought the altcoin, here is a 16 minutes long interview on CNN with Rodman wearing a POT shirt. Binance Wants EUR “Soon” Cryptocurrency exchange Binance plans to leverage its recent Malta operations, which earlier this year were welcomed by the nation’s Prime Minster no less, to allow clients to trade crypto-fiat pairs soon. The popular trading venue will enable euro transactions later this year, and plans to add other fiat currencies as well, according to CEO Zhao Changpeng. CZ further told Bloomberg that Binance will soon acquire a license from the UK’s offshore tax heaven of Jersey in the English Channel, and plans to open an office on the island with as many as a hundred employees. The exchange is also in talks with authorities and banks in Taiwan, the CEO revealed. Coinbase Pumps ETC Coinbase, the San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, has announced that it intendeds to add support for Ethereum Classic (ETC) to the platform in the coming months and the altcoin’s price quickly reacted by jumping about 20%. Unlike some major ETC holders that cheered the news, most commenters online seem to deride the move. Critics complain that adding ETC is easy, as it is just an ether fork, and thus Coinbase choose a lazy approach to selecting new assets, even if they are not popular or widely used. According to the company’s procedures for the process of adding new assets, which were set up to prevent new accusations of insider trading, they can only now begin the engineering work for supporting ETC. So, users can expect to see public-facing APIs and other signs that the asset is being added. When they reach the final testing phase of the technical integration, which is expected to occur over the next few months, Coinbase will publicly announce a launch date. Wells Fargo Joins Credit Card Ban Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC), the American retail banking giant, is the latest big financial institution to decide for its customers that they can no longer be trusted to use their own credit cards to invest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. “We will continue to evaluate the issue as the market evolves,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman said in a statement. “We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.” The bank thus closes ranks with other companies in its industry, like JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America, in a ban on buying crypto with credit. Valve Shuts Down Opskins’ Trade on Steam CS GO Tournament Valve Corporation, the digital distribution company, has notified the game items marketplace Opskins that it disables its accounts associated with trade on the popular Steam platform by June 21, 2018. Opskins only launched Express Trade for CS:GO on June 6, and Valve quickly determined that it “uses Valve intellectual property and violates our Steam Subscriber Agreement, and is already being used by other businesses to avoid Valve policies.” For its part, Opskins informed users it isn’t going anywhere and has announced the integration of items for nineteen blockchain-based games and services, as “they are smart-contract based, these items cannot ever be taken away from item owners or held to trade restrictions.” What do you think about today’s news? 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 Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: POT Saves World, Coinbase Pumps ETC, Binance Wants EUR appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article