roadrunner

More than two thirds of the leading cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers on both sides of the Atlantic fail to conduct proper identity verification checks. According to new research into their onboarding practices, most of the studied platforms do not meet the requirements of the upcoming regulations under the updated EU anti-money laundering directive. Also read: Localbitcoins Updates ToS: ‘Some Situations May Require ID’ ‘Crypto Identity Crisis’ The research, titled “The Cryptocurrency Identity Crisis: An Industry Scorecard for Digital ID Verification for KYC and AML”, looked into the onboarding practices of leading cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers in Europe and the US. Its main goal was to determine whether these prominent platforms implement proper Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures regarding new users. The study was conducted by P.A.ID Strategies and commissioned by Mitek, a provider of digital identity verification solutions. The results show that 68% of 25 examined crypto exchanges and custodian wallets allow users to trade crypto and fiat currencies without conducting formal identification. These companies do not meet many of the requirements mandated by the upcoming EU regulations. They are not performing identity verification checks against official identity documents and lists of politically exposed persons. There is no sanctions screening or audit trail to trace criminal activity. The EU’s fifth anti-money laundering directive, AMLD5, is due to come into effect next year. It is expected to bring crypto-related services in line with the standards applied to other financial products such as those offered by banks. That includes mandatory identity checks on new customers like those conducted by traditional financial institutions. The European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s proposal for a Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive on April 19 this year. The document aims to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing through the financial system of the European Union. It was proposed by the Commission in 2016, even before AMLD4 was implemented by all member-states. The updated directive introduces stricter requirements for customer due diligence procedures and identity verification. Exchanges and Wallets Ranked Under the new rules, cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet providers will be obliged to apply for registration. The platforms in the study have been ranked according to how compliant their onboarding process is with the AMLD5 provisions. Topping the list are exchanges like Coinbase, Gemini, Poloniex, and Itbit. All these require users to present official ID documents to begin trading. They have received an “ID Verification Score” of 9 out of 10. Platforms like Kraken, Bitstamp, Wirex, Local Bitcoins, Bitpanda, and Bitwala are also included in the survey. A verified email address and a mobile phone number are often enough to sign up for the exchanges and wallets that do not have KYC procedures. The researchers note that both are easily obtainable without identification. Users can start trading with any email address and a number from a prepaid cell phone service. “Cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges want to enjoy the same trust as the wider traditional financial services,” said John Devlin, Principal Analyst at P.A.ID Strategies, quoted by Real Wire. “Meeting regulatory demands ahead of AMLD5 coming into force could go a long way to changing this sector’s reputation as being something of a ‘wild west’,” he added. Mitek COO Kalle Marsal believes that crypto exchanges and wallet providers want to change the “perceptions of lawlessness,” which in his words is a relatively straightforward fix. “Identity verification processes can be, if implemented correctly, simple for the customer and no barrier to signing up,” he argued. Do you expect exchanges and wallets to comply with the stricter EU regulations? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Make sure you do not miss any important Bitcoin-related news! Follow our news feed any which way you prefer; via Twitter, Facebook, Telegram, RSS or email (scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe). We’ve got daily, weekly and quarterly summaries in newsletter form. Bitcoin never sleeps. Neither do we. The post Research: Majority of EU, US Exchanges and Wallets Fail to KYC Users appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Police in the Indian city of Thane have raided the offices of an alleged multi-million cryptocurrency scam on Monday. According to its promoters, Money Trade Coin (MTC) “provides a safer, more secure and superior alternative of storing wealth in the form of digital currency, to investors as well as commoners.” Investigators, however, accuse it of being a front for an international fraud, misleading investors with promises of high returns, real estate and foreign passports. Also Read: Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: Wozniak Wants Bitcoin to Rule World New Age Cryptocurrency On its website MTC is described as intellectual property jointly owned by Dubai based firm Bitcoin Global FZE, UAE and Money Trade Coin Ltd, UK. And Mr. Amit M. Lakhanpal is said to be the Director of Money Trade Coin Ltd (and one of the key members of Bitcoin Global FZE and MD of Flintstone Group, India). While two people were detained on Monday, Lakhanpal is reportedly still at large and the police believe he may have fled India. Flintstone’s Thane office reportedly had twenty employees, while another office in the Mumbai suburb of Vikhroli had a staff of fifty. The investigation started after a local businessman complained that he and his colleagues were not able to get a response from the company about their invested funds. Police, Bollywood and Politicians The police said Lakhanpal’s office showcased photos of him with “leading political personalities” used to impress his alleged victims. Additionally, “He may have even invested in a Bollywood film featuring a major male star, but we are verifying this.” A senior officer even told the Hindustan Times that some members of the police were allegedly involved with MTC and their involvement is being investigated. “Pal and his associates promised investors a 20-times return on investment in a mere six months. But once the deadline passed, the company made several excused to not release the money,” the officer said. “A few days ago, some investors even went to Dubai to meet Lakhanpal, but they were allegedly threatened, and were told that they should not ask for their money. We also found that Lakhanpal had never constructed any building, even though he claimed to run a real estate company.” What do you think is the true story behind MTC? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, MoneyTradeCoin. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Police Forces Bust Alleged “New Age Cryptocurrency” Scam in India appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Users of the popular video game streaming application Twitch can now tip each other using a variety of cryptocurrencies. The integration is made possible by a firm called Streamlabs who have built a protocol that can send tips through a user’s Coinbase account. Also Read: Decentralized Exchange Compendium ‘Index’ Lists Over 200 Dex Platforms Twitch Users Can Now Tip Each Other With Four Different Cryptocurrencies The well-known video game stream website Twitch is extremely popular, the page sees millions of visitors every month. Now users of the platform can tip each other with four cryptocurrencies including bitcoin cash (BCH), ethereum (ETH), litecoin (LTC), and bitcoin core (BTC). Essentially Twitch streamers can get a Streamlabs account tied to their Coinbase account which enables crypto-infused tips with no additional fees. Streamlabs representative Tom Maneri revealed the integration on Sunday, June 4. “It’s time to give one of your Lambos a wash, because all Streamlabs broadcasters can now accept cryptocurrency tips,” Maneri details. In order to tip on Twitch users need to have a Coinbase and Streamlabs account. Integrating Streamlabs With Coinbase to Tip Using Twitch In order to integrate cryptocurrency tipping in Twitch users need to have a Coinbase account and head to the Streamlabs ‘donation settings page’ to select the ‘Coinbase option.’ From there you need to log in, and tether your Coinbase account to the Streamlabs platform. After that, a tip page will now show up for viewers, and, just like fiat, cryptocurrency tips work with your alerts as well so you can be notified when receiving a tip. Moreover, there are no fees involved with the process minus the network fee associated with the specific cryptocurrency chosen for tipping. “Streamlabs does not charge a fee, but some network transaction fees may apply depending on the currency being used,” Maneri explains. Cryptocurrency proponents are quite pleased with the tipping integration as Twitch is extremely popular gaming site that has millions of unique users and is one of the top 50 most trafficked websites in the world. What do you think about being able to tip people with cryptocurrency using the streaming video game platform Twitch? Let us know your thoughts on this subject in the comment section below. Images via Shutterstock, Streamlabs, and Twitch. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Twitch Streamers Can Now Tip With Four Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Japan’s GMO Internet has unveiled the price and specs of the GMO miner B2 equipped with 7nm ASIC mining chips. The mining capacity is 24 TH/s and the price of the machines will be adjusted monthly according to demand. Using GMO’s mining rigs, the power consumption can be reduced up to 20% and the cost of network equipment can be reduced to 1/55, local media report from Tuesday’s press conference. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space GMO Miner B2 Specs Japanese internet giant GMO announced the details of its bitcoin mining rigs called “GMO miner B2” in a press conference on Tuesday, June 5, ahead of the actual launch that is scheduled for the morning of the following day, June 6. Nikkei reported: The GMO miner B2 features a semiconductor chip ‘GMO 72b’ dedicated to mining that adopts the in-house developed 7-nanometer process technology. The hash rate indicating the computing capacity of mining is 24 TH/s, and can calculate hash 24 trillion times per second. Bitmain Antminer S9 For comparison, the popular Bitmain Antminer S9’s hashrate is 14TH/s. According to Bloomberg, the GMO chips are designed in Japan and produced in Taiwan. Masatoshi Kumagai, Chairman and Director of GMO Internet and the GMO Group representative, described the advantages of his company’s mining equipment over other products. “The performance per unit is higher than that of major competitors’ products,” he was quoted by the news outlet. “If we switch from over 20,000 mining machines operating in Northern Europe to GMO miner B2, the installation space will be about half in terms of equivalent performance.” Power Consumption “Compared to general mining machines…the power consumption is up to 20%, the cost of network equipment etc. can be reduced to 1/55,” Itmedia noted. Kumai publication reported from the press conference that each unit consumes 1,950 watts and power supply units can supply up to 2,200 watts at 240 V. Adjustable Price – $1,999 for June GMO miner B2 will be sold through the company’s subsidiary in Zug, Switzerland, according to Nikkei. They will be on sale starting Wednesday and orders will start shipping from the end of October, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported. The price for each unit is “announced monthly,” the publication added, revealing that the “sales price in June is $1,999.” Itmedia described: The price for the June release is $1,999 (including power supply unit, excluding tax). The sales price is adjusted monthly according to demand etc. The number of shipments was kept private. Currently, Bitmain’s Antminer S9 is priced at $837. GMO’s Plans Mr. Masatoshi Kumagai told reporters that so far the crypto mining industry is dominated “by mining machines provided by Bitmain, a major mining hardware company in China,” and that he “noticed the fact that not a single Japanese company that is good at manufacturing is able to participate.” He also revealed that the company “invested nearly 10 billion yen for the development of the product,” the publication conveyed and quoted the chairman explaining: We are not setting business targets such as sales targets yet, but if we cannot sell it, we will use it in our mining business, so I think that it is a very excellent business in that there is no inventory risk. Furthermore, he added, “we also provide an API (application programming interface) for system monitoring compatible with GMO miner B2 and a detection function [for] when the product is connected to the net at the time of an unlikely event of theft.” What do you think of GMO miner B2? Will you buy one? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Nikkei, Itmedia, Kumai, and GMO Internet. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Japan’s GMO Unveils Specs and Price of 7nm Bitcoin Mining Rigs – On Sale Tomorrow 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. In May, GANA Technologies, introducing how to adopt artificial intelligence technology to the cannabis industry, announced the start of its token public sale. However, there is still the chance to get 10% bonus even during the core sale. The project team offers you the opportunity to get more tokens if you join the ICO before 15,000 ETH raised. ICO progress is available in real time mode at the main site https://ganacoin.io, where a graph shows how many ETH is raised. This way you can check what percent of bonus you can get at the current stage. Bonus rate is granted according to the following logic: • Public sale (Round 1) 12.5% 1ETH = 22,000 GANA (10% bonus) | Hard cap = 15,000 ETH • Public sale (Round 2) 12.5% 1ETH = 21,000 GANA (5% bonus) | Hard cap = 15,000 ETH • Public sale (Round 3) 12.5% 1ETH = 20,500 GANA (2.5% bonus) | Hard cap = 15,000 ETH • Public sale (Round 4) 4.2% 1ETH = 20,000 GANA (0% bonus) | Hard cap = 5,000 ETH GANA ecosystem GANA aims to create a broad cannabis ecosystem where tokens will be given to customers who bought products with GANA certificate. They will be able to buy movies, music, digital contents, recommended products through the mobile application. Users will get GANA tokens by providing their information about the purpose of using the cannabis, profile, medical history and taste. GANA personalized data collection information will be integrated with the data collected from the partners and will be used for conducting researches for cannabis users. The utilization scope of GANA token will expand as the developers launch their service. The project is planning to build an ecosystem where GANA token can be used in all the processes from production to personal health care. About the company GANA uses blockchain and AI technology to bring the cannabis industry to the next step. The blockchain is used for the purpose of transparent data management which used for providing valuable information for both the consumer and companies. GANA provides quality authentication system and business intelligence platform. The final goal is to provide an artificial intelligence based personal assistance service to cannabis users. By doing so, GANA will become the biggest data holder in the cannabis industry. The GANA technology platform will be useful for consumers, growers, distributors, contents and product makers, research institutions, and marketing firms. Contact Email Address alex.drofa.ra@gmail.com Supporting Link http://ganacoin.io/ 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: GANA Technologies Offers 10% Bonus for Joining Cannabis Industry Revolution appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

May was a bumper month for bitcoin cash and ethereum. Both digital assets saw a major increase in global trading volume compared to the month prior. BTC held steady, averaging $200 billion a month, but ripple didn’t fare so well, recording trading volume that was down 86% since January, mirroring its decline in price. Also read: Decentralized Exchange Compendium ‘Index’ Lists Over 200 Dex Platforms Bitcoin Cash Is May’s King of Coins There are various ways to measure a cryptocurrency that’s in demand, with trading volume the most useful indicator after price. A lot of bitcoin cash changed hands in May – 140% more than in the month prior in fact. Diar’s weekly update highlights the big winners and losers in the cryptocurrency market in May, and shows the substantial demand for BCH. In total, $30 billion of bitcoin cash changed hands in May. The next biggest gainer was ethereum, whose trade volume was up 50% on April, resulting in monthly trading volume of over $80 billion. Most major cryptocurrencies saw an increase in trading volume in May including litecoin, which had a modest increase. There was one notable loser however – ripple. XRP trading volume has been on the decline since January, back when $100 billion of tokens were traded in a month, pushing the price of XRP north of $3. Reality has since settled in, and May saw just $16 billion of ripple traded. Fake Volume Rears Its Head When it comes to analyzing trading volume, one topic that often crops up concerns fake volume. Exchanges and their traders are frequently accused of creating orders that they have no intention of fulfilling, which creates a false impression of liquidity. If traders are doing so, it’s likely bot-based as a means of market manipulation in the pursuit of profit. If exchanges are responsible, it’s likely to make their platform look more popular than it is, and to benefit from the additional custom that comes from being a top ranked global exchange by volume. Binance is the latest exchange to have faced accusations of fake volume, with certain coins displaying unusually high volume for short periods of time, comprising fluctuations that appear outwith normal trading patterns. Given the hundreds of thousands of traders who can be using a platform such as Binance at one time, including countless bots connected via API, determining which orders are real, which are fake, and who’s responsible for any manipulation, is virtually impossible. Do you think fake volume is a problem on major exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Diar. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Trading Volume Soars But Ripple Keeps Falling appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Crypto exchange Golix is entering three other African markets in an effort to survive the ban imposed by the central bank in its home country – Zimbabwe. Moreover, the troubled trading platform claims the move is part of a strategy to offer its services across the whole continent. Golix says the shortage of infrastructure has slowed down the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Africa. Also read: Johannesburg Gets a New Crypto ATM, Ban Threatened Harare May Lose One Golix Moves On After Ban, Expands in Africa Trying to stay afloat after the crackdown by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), Golix has turned its attention to Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. Zimbabwe’s leading cryptocurrency exchange hopes to continue trading in these African countries, despite the ban imposed by financial authorities in Harare. In a statement quoted by News Day, Golix head of growth, Panashe Tapera, noted that moving outside the country was part of a new strategy – the trading platform plans to expand operations across the entire continent. Tapera said: As part of our strategy, starting from Friday, June 1, people in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda will be able to start trading from Golix. This is one of our plans to be the leading exchange in Africa, which is inspired by the vision to provide financial autonomy in the continent. Golix has been offering exchange services in Zimbabwe for the past three years and was the only crypto trading platform there for quite some time, processing transactions worth $20 million and having 50,000 local users. Now it’s planning to continue to do the same in more and larger markets, saying that shortage of crypto infrastructure has slowed down the adoption of digital currencies in Africa. The Republic of South Africa, the region’s economic powerhouse, has the highest number of cryptocurrency exchanges on the continent. Its central bank has set up a special unit tasked to review its position on cryptocurrencies and a “self-regulatory” approach has been proposed by legal experts working in the crypto sector. Uganda has been mentioned recently as a crypto-friendly destination, where the leading crypto exchange Binance wants to open a new office. Challenging the Central Bank in Court The announcement comes after last month the central bank in Harare issued a circular to banking institutions instructing them to stop providing bank accounts to cryptocurrency companies. The new guidelines effectively banned all crypto-related activities in the country. The RBZ gave local banks and cryptocurrency operators 60 days to comply. Golix has since sent several letters to its clients informing them that they would not be able to trade digital coins or deposit fiat currency, and also helping them withdraw their funds. According to local media, the operator of the exchange, Bitfinance Limited, has filed a lawsuit against the central bank. Later, it was reported that the country’s High Court has ruled in favor of the company’s argument that the RBZ has no authority to ban digital currencies. Last week, Golix said it had been granted “an interim relief.” In further communication with its customers, the exchange shared that its accounts had not been restored and the legal proceedings were still ongoing. “Nevertheless, please note that we are in the middle of promising engagements with a financial institution which is willing to process our fiat withdrawals through a prepaid debit card,” the platform told its clients. Golix Takes Its Token Sale to the New Markets The Zimbabwean exchange intends to enter and operate in Kenya, Uganda and South Africa by also conducting its $32 million token sale there. The aim of the coin offering is to enable instant remittances and international payments through cryptocurrencies. According to Golix lead of special projects, William Chui, “Since the onset, our main agenda is to provide financial autonomy in Africa. The GLX token is going to be used to facilitate and realize this agenda.” Clients from different countries will be able to buy the GLX token from the exchange with fiat currencies, he explained. Then, the coin issued by Golix will be used to purchase other cryptos on its trading platform at zero transaction fees. Zimbabwe’s first crypto exchange also promises lower fees, in comparison with traditional banking methods, for remittances and international transfers facilitated by the GLX token. The Golix representative believes that will contribute to the GDP growth in African countries. Do you think the expansion to new markets will help Golix survive the ban in Zimbabwe? Tell us 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 Zimbabwe’s Golix Exchange Enters Kenya, Uganda, South Africa appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Mikhail Shlyapnikov, cancer survivor turned quaint Russian farmer and cryptocurrency revolutionary, is well known within the ecosystem. He’s about as eccentric as imagined, defiantly taking on his government through the issuance of a proprietary, local money. It was a way to get out from under gouging state-backed banks. Close to half a decade later, and after a crackdown, his little hamlet is thriving as a result of tapping the digital universe to cure their monetary ills. Also read: DOJ Crypto Investigation Tanks Prices, Fundstrat Welcomes Adult Supervision Russian Farmer Living the Crypto Revolution “I don’t want to expand because it will bring obligations I’m not ready for. I’m not ready to save the world or even Russia, I want to be comfortable and I want to share this comfort with the community,” Mikhail Shlyapnikov told CNN Money. The expansion he speaks of revolves around his personal economic odyssey spurred by banking cartels and their double digit interest premiums on access to capital, Russian rubles. Mikhail Shlyapnikov Колио́ново (Kolionovo) is little over an hour by car from Moscow. That was just enough space for Mr. Shlyapnikov to hospice a cancer diagnosis. It’s a farming village, population probably around a couple dozen. It was a chance to escape city life. That was nearly a decade ago, and almost immediately the iconoclast former banker set about changing things. Mr. Shlyapnikov explained, “I didn’t want to suffocate and be a slave of the banks. So I had to invent my own money. And I did it. I’m my own bank, government, regulator.” Indeed, around 2010 he led the charge to stop politicians entering the hamlet, insisting they prove mental fitness. Only a few years later, he launched his “kolion” to purposefully usurp the ruble. Crypto’s Bright Russian Farming Future Kolion in its 2014 iteration was paper. That was all it took for his arrest, as a Russian court deemed kolion illegal about a year later. Spring of last year, undeterred, Mr. Shlyapnikov seized on initial coin offering (ICO) mania, raising half a million dollars. “We now have about $2 million in kolions because its value has jumped since the ICO,” he noted. “This way we can attract real money into the business.” The village’s crypto has 500 bitcoin backing it in reserve, almost $4 million worth. Kolions aren’t mined, and no fiat is paired with it. Instead, Kolionovoians can earn it through a concept he calls ‘plowing,’ which involves trading labor in exchange. Kolions can also be purchased with other, more established cryptos. His vision has turned out to be fortuitous. Russian economic prospects can be seen as immediately bleak: the country faces growing sanction levies on top of sometime contracting markets. The village and its neighbors, who both are incorporating the crypto into their daily lives more and more, are effectively insulated from wild downturns. Such was not the case only a few short years ago. Is this the model for crypto’s future? 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 Russian Farming Village: Local Crypto, Bitcoin Reserves, No Govt Money appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief we feature news about a Dubai-based exchange returning to accept local fiat deposits, another exchange launching an ETF-like product and the response by a popular wallet to a cyber attack. But the big story, without a doubt, is Woz’s undying commitment to the idea of bitcoin. Also Read: Crypto Point-of-Sale Devices Begin Roll-Out in Indonesia Despite Ban Apple Co-Founder’s High Hopes for Bitcoin Steve Wozniak, the genius co-founder of Apple Computers, has once again spoken about his fascination with the tech and principles of bitcoin. “Bitcoin is mathematically defined, there is a certain quantity of bitcoin, there’s a way it’s distributed… and it’s pure and there’s no human running, there’s no company running and it’s just… growing and growing… and surviving, that to me says something that is natural and nature is more important than all our human conventions,” he told CNBC. “Only bitcoin is pure digital gold… and I totally buy into that,” Woz added. Okex’s New Exchange Traded Tracker (ETT) Okex, the Chinese-run cryptocurrency exchange based in Hong Kong, has joined the recent trend of trading platforms creating their own ETF-like investment tools for their users. It launched its first exchange traded tracker (ETT) on June 5, which was fully sold out within just three minutes. It includes six coins (BTC, ETH, LTC, BCH, EOS, and OKB) and requires USDT to subscribe. The minimum subscription for the instruments is 100 units. A couple of days ago, we reported that Huobi, the Singapore-headquartered exchange, has decided to create its own ETF style instrument based on an index of ten assets. Bitoasis Resumes Dirham Transactions Last month, Dubai-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitoasis enacted a suspension of deposits and withdrawals in UAE dirhams. This Monday, without explaining what was the cause of the issue, the company announced that transactions are reinstated. In a letter to its clients, quoted by Arabian Business, Bitoasis apologized for the inconvenience and said that now “users can deposit and withdraw their funds in AED as usual, without any interruption.” “In light of the recent inconsistency of service across our payment options, we will be revising and updating the options available to our customers on the platform to ensure continuity of our services,” the Bitoasis statement continued. “We will be notifying our customers with the update on our new payment options soon.” Myetherwallet Attack Blamed on Russian Hackers, Uneducated Users Myetherwallet (MEW), the web’s most popular client-side ethereum wallet, has been compromised by a DNS attack on April 24, 2018. Today the team behind the wallet issued a response to the event, further explaining what happened and detailing the steps taken to prevent its reoccurrence. They say that the attack was carried out by a native Russian speaker, which was able to phish only about $150,000 worth of ether from MEW users. They quote Internet Security experts as explaining that the “financial resources required for such an attack likely exceeds the amount of funds taken.” The team added that it is a lack of safety education that led some clients to fall for the fraud. “We hope that from this experience, every single person who interacts with cryptocurrencies and the blockchain will understand how important self-education is. In the end, you and only you are responsible for your security.” What do you think about today’s news? Is bitcoin going to be the world’s single currency in ten years? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: Exchange ETF Action and Wozniak Wants Bitcoin to Rule World 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. Ethbay is the newly launched blockchain based platform that aims to disrupt the traditional online marketplaces using the power of decentralization. It is an online marketplace much like eBay that allows users to buy or sell tangible and non-tangible products using Ethereum charging only a 1% fee, which is significantly lower than fees charged by eBay and other such marketplaces. Ethbay is all set to launch their official ICO on June 7th and offer their EBY tokens at a price of 5000 tokens for 1 Ethereum. Out of 100 million EBY tokens that will be produced, 80% will be available for sale to the general public. Unlike the other players in the online marketplace industry, Ethbay does not charge any listing fees to the sellers on the platform, allowing them to post free listings. Being based on blockchain technology and Ethereum smart contract means, Ethbay offers complete safety and security to both the parties during transactions using an ultra-secure Ethereum smart contract escrow to protect transactions. Additionally, it is a one of a kind truly anonymous online marketplace which does not require the user to enter any personal information for registration. Registered users can also use an encrypted messaging system to interact with other users. The holders of EBY token will have additional advantages in which they will be entitled to a proportional share of the fees generated on the platform and will have voting rights on site proposals. Ethbay is here to overcome the major shortcomings of the traditional online marketplaces such as over the top fees for transactions & listings, lack of security in carrying out transactions and lack of any long-term reward for platform loyalty. Through its innovative approach, the platform manages to provide users with free listings, drastically reduced transaction fees and rewards the holders with fair returns on their investment using a platform-specific cryptocurrency that tracks the value and popularity of the platform. Ethbay will be open for users from around the world and to register on the platform, they will not require entering any personal information; however, users may choose to add their email address to receive notifications regarding sales, offers, purchases etc if they wish. Sellers can provide an Ethereum address where they want to receive the payments for any sales they make. Once the buyer receives their order and satisfied with their purchase, they can release the escrow to the seller. Ethbay is a rapidly growing online marketplace that is continuously working towards improving its services and adding better features to it. In the future, Ethbay plans to add a feature called Ethbay Services on the platform through which the users can buy and sell services using Ethereum, sort of like a decentralized Fiverr. It also plans to create Ethbay Classifieds where users can buy or sell locally using Ethereum. More information about the platform and the upcoming ICO can be found at www.ethbay.co. Contact Email Address Brett.Murphy78@hotmail.com Supporting Link https://www.ethbay.co 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: Ethbay, the New Decentralized Ethereum Marketplace Will Launch Their ICO on June 7th appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Self-described informative and interactive crypto website, Zy Crypto, a nonprofit based in England, believes it has struck ecosystem gold by discovering Satoshi Nakamoto’s real identity. It’s the second attempt by the outfit, and both times they’ve relied upon stylometry before concluding that Bitcoin Cash developer Gavin Andresen is Satoshi hiding in plain sight. This go-round analysis involves not only statistical analysis of prose, but also Maciej Eder’s bootstrapping method in an attempt to eliminate natural bias in such conclusions. Also read: Apple Sides with Russian Govt, Restricts Telegram, Claims Pavel Durov Bitcoin Cash Developer Gavin Andresen Is the Real Satoshi Nakamoto Two upfront admittances, if readers indulge. The first is, I am a Troy Watson fan. I enjoy his work, and count myself as someone who approves of his earnest dive into such subjects. Second, I have probably read more about the present pseudonym under examination than is healthy, and not just because I make my living in the space. Flatly, I am obsessed. No clickbait here, or not intentionally. No hype. This is a fun pursuit, and one worth some effort as it involves cryptocurrency’s origin story. Zy Crypto is a curious little outfit based in a lesser-known part of the United Kingdom. They’ve the site proper, a news aggregation service, and what appear to be variations on the public relations themes of initial coin offerings and blockchains. To publish one, let alone two articles asserting both times how Bitcoin Cash developer Gavin Andresen is Satoshi, for once and for all, speaks volumes about either the confidence Zy has in its writer or the fact they’re sporting for clicks. Consider this sentence, hitting readers right between the eyes: “We identified Bitcoin Cash developer Gavin Andresen as being the real Satoshi Nakamoto,” Mr. Watson boldly asserts before an immediate pivot towards technique. The primary methodology used in both examinations is what’s known as stylometry. It’s the study of prose put up against other writers as a way of determining patterns and is an actual predictive of authorship when done well. Stylometry has picked up in recent years as an investigative tool when faced with the spectre of Satoshi Nakamoto. The pseudo anonymous creator of Bitcoin holds more than five percent of bitcoin in circulation, making him the first crypto billionaire. Should Mr. Nakamoto decide for shits and giggles to dump a significant amount of coin onto the market, not only would the price drop by virtue of economic law, confidence would probably crash as well, bringing down a giant chunk of whatever value bitcoin has. It’s a big goddamn deal who Satoshi is. Zy Crypto neato graph. Stylometry’s False Positives or Conclusive Hits The technology to out a writer wishing to remain in has proven its worth. In the mid 1960s, Frederick Mosteller used stylometry to establish authorship of the hotly contested Federalist Papers, determining James Madison as their probable main author (instead of Alexander Hamilton). It took him almost half a decade, whereas today software exists to run such analysis pretty fast. More famously, and recently, no less an author than zillion-selling Harry Potter creator JK Rowling was found to be the actual author of The Cuckoo’s Calling. A few years ago she wished to have her writing evaluated on its own merits, and so Ms. Rowling took a pen name. Stylometry outed her. Satoshi? And Zy Crypto isn’t the first to attempt applying the statistical method to Satoshi’s true identity. As bitcoin’s price began to skyrocket, so did interest in who its creator might’ve been. During Craig Wright’s supremely odd public display, outed by supposed hackers, claiming to be Satoshi and then suggesting it was a hoax, a couple of once well-regarded tech journals believed Mr. Wright to be Satoshi. International Business Times employed the very firm used to blow Ms. Rowling’s cover, Juola & Associates. They soon determined what most in the know suspected: Mr. Wright wasn’t bitcoin’s father (he’d respond that he and partner David Kleiman collaborated on the project, but even that has been posthumously tainted). He managed to fool or convince or onboard original Bitcoin dev Gavin Andresen, who went so far as to record video testimony (Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum genius, weighed in on the noise of the matter, and later just outright spat fraud in Mr. Wright’s direction). Late 2017, price fever pitch reached maximum overdrive, and Michael Chon took his own swing at discovery. The Georgetown University and Booz Allen Hamilton alum concluded Satoshi was a group of devs, with some authoring the whitepaper while others engaged in email exchanges. He narrowed it down to four: “Nick Szabo, Ian Grigg, Wei Dai, and Timothy C. May.” Gavin Andresen wasn’t considered, a subject to which we return. Mr. Watson details how “using Eder’s bootstrapped stylometry method…this finding supports our previous article on the topic that also identified Gavin as Satoshi using Principal Component Analysis and Burrows’ delta.” Knowing full well the history I’ve outlined above, he concludes, “A big part of this failure can be attributed to the lack of convergence validity in the stylometry field.” And a pitfall within the field itself is how “stylometrics often cherry pick results due to their algorithms producing vastly different results when slightly tweaked,” he acknowledged. This led to suggesting Wei Dai as Satoshi, at least for a time. Using Stylometry Analysis I Have Discovered I May Be Satoshi Nakamoto This time, Mr. Watson’s confidence in Mr. Andresen as Satoshi extends from Maciej Eder, who “created a bootstrapping method specifically designed to overcome the problem of cherry picking elements like Most Frequent Words (MFW). The approach uses Burrows’ delta to find a difference between two texts, but also uses random sampling of MFW ranges so as to output more robust results. Burrows’ delta is basically a manhattan distance of z-scores which is sourced from a list of top words used in an entire corpus.” The rest of the article reads similarly, and the interested would do well with frequent searches of Wikipedia. Nevertheless, he’s “found that the first nearest neighbour was Satoshi’s email texts followed by 3 of Gavin Andresen’s Github documents and then followed by Satoshi’s forum texts. These findings are quite reasonable because not only do they validate the links between the Satoshi whitepaper-emails-forums but they also cluster Gavin as the likely author. It’s also of interest that Gavin’s style was so much like Satoshi’s whitepaper that he beat Satoshi himself with the forum texts!” Crypto Cornelius for the win. Still more discussion of limitations and technical methodology follows, and those without a statistical or mathematical background are cautioned. It’s somewhat like reading French if you don’t speak French. Yeah, there’s the standard Latin alphabet and all, but that’s about as far as most will get. Again, Wikipedia is a friend. I don’t buy it in the end, and have instead relied upon resident ecosystem muckraker, Crypto Cornelius, as my prime response. “I have identified Myself,” he typed in the patois of most these studies, “an amateur crypto enthusiast as being the real Satoshi Nakamoto using Yeder’s bootstrapped Coronary Angiogram stylometry method. This finding supports a previous thought when I woke up one night and thought ‘Could I be Nakamoto?’” Sides splitting, tears dropping on the laptop as I type to you Dear Reader, he continues, “Nano Stylometry was invented by Elon Musk and is a set of methods that aim to identify an unknown author by statistically deciphering their style using statistics, hard to understand graphics and random information.” For geeks like me, good old Cornelius is necessary to bring us back to reality. Happy reading. Is Gavin the real Satoshi? Let us know in the comments. Images via the Pixabay, Twitter, giuatt07. 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 Satoshi Nakamoto Revealed: Stylometry & Bootstrapping Proof, Claims UK Nonprofit appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In a recent interview, Ben He, the founder of major Chinese Ethereum wallet provider, Imtoken, discussed his company’s growth. $35 billion worth of crypto assets are currently held in Imtoken wallets – including funds owned by major cryptocurrency companies such as Coinbase. Imtoken also recently announced that it has received $10 million USD from IDG Capital, and will soon integrate support for BTC. Also Read: Japan’s SBI Cryptocurrency Exchange Now Live for 20,000 Users Imtoken Raises $10 Million in Funding Round In recent days, Imtoken revealed that it has raised $10 million USD from IDG Capital through its Series A funding round. The company, which claims to be the world’s largest Ethereum wallet, will now set its sights on expanding in the Asian and United States cryptocurrency markets. Imtoken’s chief executive officer and founder, Ben He, emphasized the company’s desire to penetrate the Southeast Asian markets before looking toward major regional players such as Korea, Japan, and India – stating that said jurisdictions’ “regulations are maturing quickly.” After Asia, Imtoken will look toward major African markets, such as Nigeria. IDG Capital partner, Young Guo, stated that “Imtoken has developed its product into one of the top crypto asset wallets in the world with such a sound reputation. We believe it will become a significant infrastructure for the tokenization manifesto, benefitting both the crypto economy and blockchain technology. We’re excited to back Imtoken.” Imtoken indicated that much of the newly raised capital will be put toward developing new features, including support of BTC, EOS, and a number of other altcoins. $35 Billion Worth of Cryptocurrency Has Been Deposited in Imtoken Wallets In a recent interview, Mr. He described the company’s growth as having been “completely organic,” adding “We didn’t have any marketing or promotional budget […] We noticed very early the potential of Ethereum and focused on it to differentiate against competitors.” Since launching support for Ethereum in 2016, the company’s app has grown to store more than $35 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets, including “More than $20 billion” worth of Coinbase’s customers funds, according to a Coinbase spokesperson. Since January, Imtoken users are estimated to have accounted for approximately 10% of daily activity taking place on the Ethereum blockchain. How do you store your cryptocurrency? Join the discussion in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Chinese Wallet Imtoken Holds $20 Billion in Coinbase Customer Assets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Since the creation of bitcoin and the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies in existence individuals have been trading their assets for profit or for other coins. A great majority of people use centralized exchanges, even though many of them require strict identification policies or have lost funds due to hackers infiltrating their platforms. Over the past couple of years, there has been a proliferation of decentralized exchanges (Dex) that allow digital currency trading without relying on a third party to hold a user’s funds. Unfortunately, people might not be aware that there have been over 200 Dex platforms launched over the past few years, and a Github repository called ‘Index’ allows people to get a comprehensive overview of each decentralized exchange. Also Read: Testing Cryptocurrency Atomic Swaps With Barterdex A List of Decentralized Exchanges of Cryptographic Assets, and Their Protocols When people think about trading cryptocurrencies they often think about exchanges like Gemini, Coinbase, Bitstamp, and others. These exchanges are deemed centralized because they hold a customer’s funds and the data associated with the person’s account. A decentralized exchange, otherwise known as a ‘Dex,’ the protocol is basically a ‘trustless system’ because it doesn’t hold a user’s funds or require any data. There are a lot of popular Dex platforms that people have been hearing about more recently, and now there’s also a Github repository that gives an in-depth look at all 200+ trading platforms. The repository called ‘Index’ was created by the software developers Hanni Abu, Steven Hatzakis, Manfred Karrer and Elio Osés. “This is a list of decentralized exchanges of cryptographic assets (cryptocurrencies, tokens, derivatives, futures) and their protocols, without a central entity,” explains the repository. The architecture of these and their protocols can be quite different from one another. In some cases, they are built projects entirely open source — In other cases, they are closed in some aspects, but still implemented open or decentralized tools or mechanisms like smart contracts that are publicly verifiable. Other projects have chosen to create their own distributed ledger technology (DTL) in order to build a protocol for exchange. The Index lists the decentralized exchange name, URL, repo, documents, Dex grade, status, protocol, reference, asset, DLT, ORG. The Benefits of Dex Platforms Are Great But These Projects Have a Limited User Base and Weak Liquidity Dex platforms listed on the Index repository include Airswap, Altcoin Exchange, Atomicdex, Bisq, Bancor, Barterdex, Hodl Hodl, Counterparty Dex, Etherdelta, Localcoinswap, Raiden, QTUM Dex, and many more. The list also tells whether or not the Dex is operational, whether the platform has issues, and other types of characteristics. Some exchanges are considered “fully” decentralized while others are not operational. For instance, the Index list features exchanges that offer accountless registration, a decentralized DNS, trustless order matching, and many more methods of decentralization. Out of the 200+ Dex platforms, there are a bunch that are either in their very early beta stages, or some that have been defunct or “dead” for quite some time. There’s still a good handful of “fully” decentralized projects, and Index also details their specific protocol layers and the type of cryptocurrency assets used. There are 200+ Dex platforms listed on Index but many of them have very little users and lack liquidity. The advantages of using a Dex are profound and allow people to trade in a trustless fashion. The chances of losing your money due to an exchange hack is slim to none and you don’t have to reveal your identity which makes your transactions far more private. The disadvantage to Dex platforms right now is mostly lack of traders, and liquidity is also slim to none even on the most popular and fully operational exchanges. However, as more lose money to fallen exchanges and theft, people are slowly starting to migrate to Dex platforms that offer decentralized features. It’s likely centralized exchanges will never go away but a lot of cryptocurrency proponents hope the majority of crypto-trades will take place on these trustless platforms. Lastly, if decentralized exchanges do dominate the way we trade value, then the technology will surely revolutionize our current monetary systems — And it’s a nice day for a revolution. What do you think of the Github repository Index that features a great variety of Dex platforms? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comment section below. Images via Pixabay, ARTS1840, the Index list, and Github. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Decentralized Exchange Compendium ‘Index’ Lists Over 200 Dex Platforms appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Cryptocurrencies in Indonesia will be regarded as commodities, according to a new decision by the country’s futures market regulator. It comes after a study concluding that digital coins deserve the commodity status. The government is expected to prepare a broader regulation covering other aspects of the crypto sector including trading and taxation. Also read: Crypto Point-of-Sale Devices Begin Roll-Out in Indonesia Despite Ban Exchanges, Wallets and Miners to Be Regulated Despite crackdowns in the past, and the reluctance of Bank Indonesia to accept them as legitimate means of payment, cryptocurrencies have in the end received recognition from the executive power in Jakarta. According to local media reports, the country’s Futures Exchange Supervisory Board (BAPPEBTI) has decided that they can be subject to futures trading which means they will be regarded as commodities. “The Head of BAPPEBTI has signed a decree to make cryptocurrency a commodity that could be traded on the exchange,” said Dharma Yoga, who is managing the Board’s Market Supervision and Development Bureau. Quoted by The Jakarta Post and Kontan, he added that the decision was made after the board conducted a study on the matter in the last four months and concluded that cryptocurrencies deserved to be considered commodities. According to the official, the government will soon adopt additional regulations governing the operation of crypto exchanges in the country. The futures regulator, which operates under the Ministry of Trade, also called on existing trading platforms, such as Indodax, and other representatives of the crypto community to submit their proposals regarding different aspects like the trading procedures and the dispute settlement mechanism. The regulatory framework will also cover the activities of wallet service providers and crypto mining businesses. Jakarta to Regulate Crypto Taxation The new rules will address the issues of taxation and prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing. That’s why a number of other institutions will be involved in their preparation and the regulatory process afterwards. These include Bank Indonesia, the Financial Services Authority, the Taxation Directorate General, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, and the counterterrorism unit of the National Police. Dharma Yoga also said the regulations would introduce measures to prevent the loss of funds due to embezzlement or hacking of the crypto platforms. They also envisage the establishment of clearing services for the futures market. The news about the regulations aimed at legalizing the crypto sector comes just months after the central bank of Indonesia issued a stark warning against “any use of virtual currency.” According to statements made by Bank Indonesia officials, cryptocurrencies violate the country’s legislation regulating currencies and their transactions. Detailing the ban earlier this year, the bank stated that under the current law any payment in Indonesia should be made in the national currency, the rupiah. The announcement of BI’s position was followed by a crackdown on businesses accepting cryptocurrencies, including in Bali. The island, which is a popular holiday destination with tourists from around the world spending both fiat and crypto, was targeted with inspections in January. Do you think cryptocurrencies should be regarded as commodities? Share your opinions on the subject in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Do you agree with us that Bitcoin is the best invention since sliced bread? Thought so. That’s why we are building this online universe revolving around anything and everything Bitcoin. We have a store. And a forum. And a casino, a pool and real-time price statistics. The post Indonesia to Regulate Cryptocurrencies as Commodities appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Microsoft’s acquisition of open source code repository Github has provoked protest from members of the crypto community. Developers of bitcoin core and other blockchains have expressed disquiet at the corporate takeover, with several stating their intent to migrate to an alternative platform at the earliest possible convenience. Also read: Crypto Point-of-Sale Devices Begin Roll-Out in Indonesia Despite Ban Github Buyout Causes Controversy Microsoft’s acquisition of Github is a good bit of business for both parties, but the news has not been well received by the community who rely on the popular code repository. Github has yet to turn a profit and has been without a CEO for the past nine months. Microsoft’s arrival eases Github’s financial worries and provides stability moving forwards. The technology giant is believed to be interested in Github as a means of gauging what programmers are creating and ascertaining what’s trending. For bitcoin developers, raised in a community which prizes open source standards and freedom from corporate control, Microsoft’s involvement sticks in the craw. A number of developers have now led calls to abandon the platform and move to an alternative repository, with Gitlab appearing to be the biggest beneficiary so far. It’s released data showing a flurry of repositories migrating to its platform. The Beginning of the End for Github? Bitcoin core developer Wladimir van der Laan is of the opinion that the BTC repository should move, asserting “I expect this is the beginning of a long painful road of GH toward obsolescence”. While there is nothing to suggest, at this stage, that Microsoft is posed to start hiking fees and plundering data, its ownership of a community that prides itself on decentralization is hard for many to stomach. More than 1,000 tweets have been sent with the #movingtogitlab hashtag, and the company has offered a 75% discount on its pricing plan to sweeten the deal and hasten the exodus from Github. Other developers have suggested Keybase, which provides private repositories that are encrypted, with the bitcoin blockchain used to anchor identities. It’s too early to tell whether Microsoft’s latest purchase will mark the demise of Github or usher in a new era, but early signs point to the former. Those intent on leaving the web’s largest code repository are doing so out of principle. Github, under its new owners, has become the antithesis of everything they stand for. Do you think cryptocurrency projects should move away from Github now it’s under Microsoft’s control? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Blockchain Developers Abandon Github Following Microsoft Acquisition appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A collection of recent funding news from the cryptocurrency ecosystem shows that despite record amounts of money raised by ICOs, the traditional route of raising funds from venture capital firms is still going strong. And cryptocurrency exchanges are involved both as investment targets and investors. Also Read: Crypto Point-of-Sale Devices Begin Roll-Out in Indonesia Despite Ban Chinese Crypto Wallet Imtoken Raises $10 Million to Expand Internationally Venture firm IDG Capital has invested $10 million in the Series A funding round by Imtoken, a Chinese startup behind a cryptocurrency wallet app reportedly used by 4 million people. The two sides have yet to disclose any details of the company’s financials or its valuation following the round. The founder of the wallet company, Ben He, told Bloomberg that IDG’s investment will be used to fund an expansion beyond its home market of China, where 70% of users still come from. The plans include opening a new office in Singapore and hiring more staff, after it already tripled to 30 people over the last ago. Further according to the report, Imtoken also plans to expand its services for institutional investors following the development of new security features. Itbit (Paxos) Raises $65 Million Paxos, the New York-based company behind institutional bitcoin exchange Itbit, has announced on Thursday it has raised $65 million from investors including venture capital firms RRE Ventures and Liberty City Ventures. In May 2015, the company obtained a trust company charter and opened the first regulated bitcoin exchange in the US. Itbit offers bitcoin traders access to both a global exchange and OTC trading desk. Paxos plans to use the new $65 million in funding to expand its operations. “We will use the capital to help grow the business which is broadly our settlement business on the Paxos side and the crypto asset exchange and custodian on the itBit side,” Chief Executive Charles Cascarilla said. $1 Billion Binance Fund Besides established VC funds, elements from within the crypto ecosystem are also choosing to support the development of other startups. Exchanges for example, who made an absolute killing in 2017, have gotten into the action. The most notable of these is Binance, which recently announced a $1 billion Community Influence Fund and another Binance Ecosystem Fund with 20 future partners. And yesterday we reported that, Huobi has joined forces with Chinese VC New Margin Capital and Korean online brokerage Kiwoom Securities to jointly launch a 100 billion won ($93 million) investment fund. What do these developments mean for crypto startup companies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post VC Funding Round-Up: Money Keeps Flowing to Crypto Exchanges and Wallets appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

One of the largest US cryptocurrency companies, Coinbase, has unveiled its plans to enter the Japanese market in order “to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrency.” The company has been in talks with the country’s financial regulator to ensure compliance. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Coinbase Opens Office in Japan Coinbase announced on Monday, June 4, its plan to enter the Japanese market. Vice President and General Manager Dan Romero wrote: As part of our effort to accelerate the global adoption of cryptocurrency, today we’re announcing the launch of Coinbase’s office in Japan…we plan to take a deliberate approach to our rollout in Japan, which means working hand-in-hand with the Japanese FSA [Financial Services Agency] to ensure compliance with local laws at every stage. Currently operating in 32 countries, Coinbase claims to have more than 20 million customers. “We support USD, EUR, GBP, CAD and BTC currencies for trading,” its website states. Other than Japan, the only other Asian country the company currently has a presence in is Singapore. Romero emphasized, “As a regulated, compliant crypto company in the U.S., we will focus on building that same level trust with new customers in Japan.” CEO Appointed in Japan Nao Kitazawa. The San Francisco-based crypto company has also appointed Nao Kitazawa as the CEO of the new office. He previously worked as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley Japan and has spent several years as a member of an international law firm, litigating cases related to finance and real estate in Japan and New York. Kitazawa is also the former COO of Money Design, a company that helped pioneer automated investment advice platforms in Japan. “As one of the industry’s top international leaders, Nao sits on the board of the Fintech Association of Japan,” Romero noted, adding that: Our new office will lay the foundation for Japan’s crypto investors to access a range of Coinbase’s products…Coinbase services available to Japanese customers will be provided with Japanese language translations for ease of use. Eying Japan Since 2016 Coinbase has been contemplating an expansion into Japan since at least July 2016 when it partnered with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), the largest bank in Japan and a subsidiary of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. “While we do not yet offer digital currency exchange services in Japan, we are committed to continue international expansion and look forward to working with BTMU to support this focus in key markets in Asia and globally,” Coinbase said at the time. Since the Payment Services Act went into effect in Japan last year, all crypto exchanges in the country are required to be licensed by the FSA. Japan already has a substantial number of exchanges competing in the crypto space. There are 16 fully licensed exchanges and 16 more have been allowed to operate while their applications are pending. In addition, the FSA has revealed that 100 more companies are seeking to enter the space including Yahoo! Japan and Line Corp. Among existing exchanges, Bitflyer is the country’s largest crypto exchange by volume. Another popular exchange, Coincheck, was recently acquired by one of Japan’s largest online brokerage firms, Monex Group. Two other conglomerates are also operating crypto exchanges: DMM and GMO Internet. In addition, one of the largest financial services companies, SBI Group, partially launched its crypto exchange on Monday. What do you think of Coinbase expanding into Japan? Do you think it will do well? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Nikkei, and Coinbase. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Coinbase Unveils Plans to Enter the Japanese Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Saturday, June 2 a new cryptocurrency wallet focused exclusively on bitcoin cash launched called Cashpay. The beta release is now available for Android and iOS devices but the wallet also offers an interesting feature — Cashpay comes with the ability to purchase anything from any online retailer using bitcoin cash. Also Read: Markets Update: Digital Currency Market Bulls Push Back After Decline Cashpay: A BCH Exclusive Wallet Focused on Increasing the Use of Bitcoin as Cash The development team from the website Cryptonize.it have launched a new bitcoin cash (BCH) centric wallet that allows users to purchase anything online using BCH. The beta application Cashpay was released this past weekend and was announced on Twitter and BCH focused Reddit forums. Moreover, the Cashpay platform also allows users to donate to their favorite charity like @eatBCH for example with just a few simple clicks. “We’re proud to present Cashpay, a bitcoin cash exclusive wallet focused on increasing the use of bitcoin as cash and supporting community charities,” explains the co-founder of Cryptonize.it this weekend. Order Anything — Cashpay enables you to buy anything at any online retailer and pay with Bitcoin Cash powered by the Cryptonize.it — We also support charities worldwide by giving them a platform to promote their cause. In just a few taps you can donate to a community charity with Cashpay. The wallet’s home screen (Android version). Cashpay’s Beta Release is Available for Testing on iOS and Android The Cashpay developers explain they wanted to build an intuitive user interface that is easy for users to transact with BCH. The wallet’s beta version is available for testing and can be downloaded on iOS and Android devices. The Cashpay developers have also published a video explaining how to purchase anything online using the BCH-powered wallet. The team details they have some “exciting new features that are currently in the making” and one of them will be a ‘Spend & Replace’ service. At the moment the developers say that Cashpay is still in its earliest stages (beta) and individuals should not put large amounts of BCH on the wallet. Cashpay explains that for now, people should treat it like any hot wallet but the developer emphasizes, “to be clear, you are the only one who has access to your keys and funds.” At the moment the wallet’s codebase is currently closed source but will be made available in the near future. What do you think about the new Cashpay wallet? Let us know your thoughts on this product in the comments below. Images via Jamie Redman, and Cashpay. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post New Cashpay Wallet Allows Purchases With Any Online Retailer Using BCH appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

After delistings, warnings and even regulatory actions in different markets around the world, we are now getting another indication that the “blockchain” stocks hype is dying out. A TASE shell company has switched its focus from trying to enter the blockchain racket to newer trends like the legal cannabis business. Also Read: Huobi Creates Its Own Cryptocurrency Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Fantasy Blockchain Fantasy Network is a shell company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: FNTS). On Monday the company announced drastic changes to its leadership, ending all the plans it previously had to enter the blockchain space. The company’s CEO quit last week after FNTS attempt to merge with A2Z Blockchain Technologies failed. FNTS has switched its focus a number of times in recent years. At one point it was a Biotech company, specializing in the cryo-preservation of amniotic fluid stem cells. Later it was in the online gaming business, offering technology solutions to fantasy sports operators, hence the name. Its plans to enter the blockchain space were first announced by Fantasy Network about six months ago. On December 10, 2017, following the company’s report that it was examining the possibility of operating in the field, the company’s stock price skyrocketed by hundreds of percentages within a few days. However, towards the end of December, following warnings by then-chairman of the Israel Securities Authority, Prof. Shmuel Hauser, about preventing “backdoor listing” by bitcoin-related companies, the FNTS share plummeted back down. Cannabis Business The decision by the board of directors to remove the previous leadership came after several of the company’s shareholders claimed that the board had made “wrong decisions” in a manner that “jeopardized the company’s continued normal operations.” They thought that the merger deal was miscalculated and that “the risk inherent” will harm the shareholders in the company. “This is a research company, with unproven technology, and its value is not based on an income forecast.” The shareholders who requested the cancellation of the merger deal added that they intend to “work to create significant value for the company.” And for this purpose they “examined a number of alternative deals in areas that are preferable, for example in cannabis, which is an evolving and regulated field.” What does this development mean for “blockchain” companies? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post TASE Shell Company Switches Plans From “Blockchain” to Cannabis 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. SINGAPORE  -  With its Identity and Relationship Verification known as REL-Registry, Viola.AI is set to create the world’s largest single women database on the blockchain for a transparent and safe platform for ladies to meet their potential partners. After being in the dating industry for over 14 years, Founders of Viola.AI Jamie Lee and Violet Lim saw first-hand the challenge and needs of singles. From successfully setting up offline and online dating services, they realized two things: • Ladies prefer offline dating service due to the strict and manual screening/verification of each member, • Gentlemen prefer online dating platform due to their higher emphasis on the ladies’ photos and profiles which they can see easily. This resulted in the severe gender ratio imbalance of the current offline and online dating solutions in the market. There is also a lack of trust in the current love industry, as online dating services are usually free without any verification, and love scammers are preying on unsuspecting singles. Over billions of dollars are lost a year due to love scams, and over 5.7 million new users this year have joined hook-up websites to cheat, creating a huge problem for singles who are genuinely looking for love. Introducing The World’s Largest Single Women Database Viola.AI is blockchain-powered dating and relationships AI which aims to create the world’s largest single women database. Viola.AI REL-Registry, which is built on blockchain, verifies each user’s identity through visual recognition, social media check and ascertains their relationship status. No more faceless characters, bots, or fake profiles. With the women’s preference over verification, REL-Registry will give them the assurance that all profiles they potentially meet in Viola.AI are real and also single. The men, who prefer online dating platform will also reap the benefits of Viola.AI as the app is free and they are able to get highly curated matches recommendation from the AI. At the same time, it will attract them even more to know that Viola.AI boasts the largest database of single women. “Our clients in our existing products have come to us and joined our service because they want that peace of mind that every profile that they meet, have been verified by our dating consultants. This is why, mainly, why women are more apprehensive in joining online dating platforms. With Viola.AI, what we aim to do is essentially take away that middle man and employ an automatic, secure and trusted verification process though REL-Registry, ” says Violet Lim, CEO & Co-Founder of Viola.AI. With the nature of the REL-Registry that is decentralized and global, couples can also use Viola.AI to ascertain their marriage or relationship status on the blockchain. More people have been using the proof-of-existence capability of the blockchain to store information, as it’s immutable, protected and their data is not owned by any corporations. The blockchain database isn’t stored in any single location, making the records easily verifiable and accessible to anyone. Through REL-Registry, the process is efficient, cost-effective, and simple. “Importantly, we believe that Viola.AI will empower single women in their dating journey, knowing that they are talking to other verified profiles who are indeed single,” continues Violet. AI Love Advisor to Evolve with Their Relationship Journey The role of establishing trust and transparency in REL-Registry is complemented through AI Love Advisor. The A.I. that the team is building evolves from dating, couple-hood to marriage based on the user’s relationship status and able to recommend relevant content, advice, goods, and services to serve each user’s needs. Asked about her goal for Viola.AI, Violet said, “I believe that this project has the potential to change the world, one relationship at a time. When we first started with Lunch Actually, we know we’ve always wanted to be the most effective dating service, but then, over the years we realized, it’s not enough as we do not want the couples that we have matched with to end up in divorces or break ups. So, with Viola.AI who can evolve her role to help singles and couples at every stage of their relationship, we can then, help every person to achieve a fulfilling and lasting relationship.” Viola.AI will be starting their Public Sale on 17 June 2018 at 8pm (UTC+8), and its MVP product is expected to be launched to its selected Alpha testers next week. Users can join the Whitelist now at http://www.viola.ai/ and take advantage of the highest bonus of 25% bonus tokens on 17–18 June 2018 only. Contact Email Address christina@viola.ai Supporting Link www.viola.ai 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: Viola.AI To Gather Larger Single Women Database appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

“Decentralization shaming” is a popular way for cryptocurrency tribes to laud their anointed altcoin at the expense of the rest. The degree to which a cryptocurrency is free from control by any one entity has become a stick with which to beat projects that don’t measure up to bitcoin, which is all of them. Such arguments are fallacious though, because when you look closely, it becomes evident that all cryptocurrencies are centralized to some degree. Also read: You Can Now 51% Attack a Coin for as Little as $500 Decentralization: Easy to Define, Hard to Achieve When the UK’s Visa network shut down on Thursday, it provoked snickers from bitcoiners. The BTC network has worked faithfully since its inception nine years ago, with neither governments nor regulators nor hardware failures capable of halting its progress. It is bitcoin’s censorship-resistance, achieved through its decentralized design, that has lent the digital asset so much of its value. True, most of the investment in cryptocurrency right now is speculative. But the reason why BTC is trading at close to $8,000, and BCH at $1,100, is because the ability to store digital wealth in a manner that can’t be seized is huge. We know that bitcoin can’t be seized, hacked, or confiscated because attackers have been trying their utmost to do so since day one and have failed. We don’t have to like their intentions, but we can appreciate the fact that their efforts have contributed to bitcoin’s rise in value, with each failed attack adding to the faith invested in the inviolability of the network. Newer blockchains, in comparison, have yet to be battle-tested, which is reflected in the value of their native cryptocurrency. With two of the most hyped blockchains of all time, EOS and Tezos, launching this month, the decentralization debate has returned with a vengeance. All Cryptocurrencies Start Out Centralized Just as a newborn needs its mother to survive those precious early months, a blockchain needs its creator on hand in the beginning. Bitcoin was heavily centralized to begin with; with no one other than Satoshi around to oversee the mining, it was unavoidable. But as more users joined the network, bitcoin transitioned to a decentralized model, and within a year it was no longer Satoshi’s plaything – it was now the world’s. Every blockchain that’s came since has also started out heavily centralized, with its creators intending to remedy this “as soon as possible”. Unlike bitcoin, however, many of these chains have struggled to make much headway in that regard. NEO: Chinese blockchains are notorious for being over-centralized, with NEO a prime example. It was meant to have been decentralized months ago, but it remains under the control of the company, who have the power to reset the network in the event of the Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance system failing to achieve consensus. IOTA: Technically a DAG rather than a conventional blockchain, IOTA is even more centralized than NEO. While it is likely that NEO will eventually reach a degree of decentralization, it is doubtful whether IOTA works in its current incarnation without a central coordinator to rest things every time there’s a glitch. Cardano: Charles Hoskinson’s Cardano will use a Proof of Stake algorithm called Ouroboros, but it’s yet to be rolled out, and thus for the past 12 months or so the cryptocurrency has been heavily centralized. Once Ouroboros is implemented, Cardano will be more distributed than at present, but whether that constitutes “true” decentralization is a matter of debate. Like EOS, Cardano’s consensus mechanism will place control in the hands of a few whales whose coins and votes will dictate decisions. EOS: The decentralization, or lack thereof, that comes with EOS has been fiercely debated in a network that is less than one week old. 21 block validators – trusted entities such as Bitfinex – serve as delegates who control the network. EOS’ delegated Proof of Stake algorithm places a lot of control in the hands of a few. A two thirds majority is required to reach consensus. Decentralization Is More Than Just a Consensus Mechanism While debates about the merits of consensus mechanisms such as PoW, PoS, dPoS and dBFT, and their role in decentralizing a network rumble on, there are other centralization concerns to address. Almost 50% of all EOS tokens, for example, reside in just 10 addresses. Then there’s the issues of mining centralization, leadership cults, and the risk of low hashrate PoW blockchains being susceptible to 51% attacks. In other words, there’s no such thing as perfect decentralization. All cryptocurrencies start life in the hands of a single entity. The measure of whether that coin deserves to be called a cryptocurrency lies in the swiftness and willingness of that entity to relinquish power. Time and successfully thwarted attacks are the true tests of a network’s mettle. Decentralization is a scale not a switch. Do you think decentralization is the most important characteristic of a blockchain? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Decentralizing Cryptocurrency Is Hard appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A network of cryptocurrency enabled Point-of-Sale (POS) payment devices has begun to spread in Indonesia, despite the ban by the central bank. Pundi X is laying the groundwork for Indonesian merchants to accept cryptocurrencies immediately after the rules are changed. Also Read: Huobi Creates Its Own Cryptocurrency Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) POS Roll-Out Begins Pundi X, a Jakarta-based cryptocurrency payments startup, has reportedly started the deployment of its POS devices in Indonesia. According to its road map, the company expects to reach a minimum deployment of 50,000 XPOS units in total by Q1, 2019. Its states the mission is to make using cryptocurrency as easy as buying bottled water. “As the Walmart and 7-Eleven of cryptocurrency, we want users to buy and use cryptocurrency anytime, anywhere.” In January, Bank Indonesia issued a warning to the public that it determined that cryptocurrencies are not to be used as payments in the country. It “affirms that virtual currency, including bitcoin, is not recognized as a valid payment instrument, so it is prohibited to be used as a means of payment in Indonesia.” However, this has not deterred the company as its devices support other means and it can thus deploy them now and let merchants turn on crypto payments when allowed. “The functionality for dealing in cryptocurrency is not automatic, it has to be activated when it is legally permissible in any jurisdiction that the POS is being deployed by the retail store owners,” David Ben Kay, Pundi X’s chief legal counsel told the South China Morning Post. Electronic Money License Pundi X has announced on May 25, 2018 that its fiat partner in Indonesia, E2Pay, has received an e-money license issued by the Indonesian Central Bank. Constantin Papadimitriou, co-founder and President of both ventures, commented at the time that “Pundi X will begin, in coming weeks, to ship our new XPOS device —  loaded with the ability to process bank debit transactions, QR & NFC based payments, and mainstream payment methods, such as Visa, Mastercard, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay, with our partners  —  to expectant customers in Indonesia, while always maintaining compliance with the local regulations. The scope for synergies between E2Pay and Pundi X is apparent, and we will have more to say about these in the near future.” Figures we published back in March show that cryptocurrencies remain very popular in Indonesia, despite the warnings of the country’s central bank. In fact, there is almost the same number of crypto traders as stock traders among the 261 million Indonesian citizens. Should all POS providers add cryptocurrency ability to their devices? Share your thoughts in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Pundi X. Now live, Satoshi Pulse. A comprehensive, real-time listing of the cryptocurrency market. View prices, charts, transaction volumes, and more for the top 500 cryptocurrencies trading today. The post Crypto Point-of-Sale Devices Begin Roll-Out in Indonesia Despite Ban appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

SBI Holdings’ cryptocurrency exchange is now live for a limited number of customers and with one cryptocurrency supported so far. Starting today, the mega corporation’s crypto spot trading service is available for approximately 20,000 users. Its full crypto exchange launch for the general public is set for next month with two additional cryptocurrencies. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space SBI Exchange Partially Launched SBI Holdings announced on Monday, June 4, that its wholly-owned subsidiary, SBI Virtual Currencies, has launched a cryptocurrency exchange service called Vctrade. “We have officially announced the availability of the virtual currency exchange service ‘Vctrade’,” the company wrote. Vctrade is currently available only to users who pre-registered in October last year. “We began mailing passwords etc. necessary for transactions to more than 20,000 customers who had applied to open accounts in advance…We [will] accept applications for general account opening in July,” Nikkei elaborated. According to Itmedia, the “Applications for general account opening will be accepted from July 18.” While claiming to have “the industry’s lowest spread,” SBI confirmed: As [for] the virtual currencies handled, first of all, we deal with XRP, [then] sequentially, bitcoin (BTC), [and] bitcoin cash (BCH). According to Business Insider Japan, “BTC and BCH will start trading” by the July launch. Service Details At present, the only currency pair listed on the exchange’s website is XRP/JPY for spot trading. There is no transaction fee and settlement is made in Japanese yen. The withdrawal free, tax included, is 51 yen for any amounts withdrawn to SBI Sumishin Net Bank, an Internet bank jointly established by SBI Holdings and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank. For withdrawals to all other financial institutions, the fee, including tax, is 165 yen for any amounts of less than 30,000 yen and 258 yen (tax included) for any amounts over that threshold. In terms of security, SBI explained that it is collaborating with Secom Trust Systems “on the operation of [a] wallet and we will strive to provide services in a perfect system.” A Licensed Exchange SBI Virtual Currencies became a fully licensed crypto exchange operator in Japan in September last year. It is among the only 16 government-approved exchanges in the country. The company was going to launch its exchange last year but postponed in December, citing the need “to strengthen the account opening application acceptance system.” In February, the company further postponed the launch of the exchange, stating that it “decided that it will take a certain amount of time to further strengthen security measures, how to manage assets under custody, and customer management system in user conservation of virtual currency exchange operators.” In addition, SBI Holdings also had plans to partner with Huobi Group to develop its crypto business in Asia, focusing on China. However, in March, the company decided to “stop the capital and business tie-up with the Huobi Group,” in order “to build a system with robust security and sufficient processing capacity by utilizing SBI Group’s resources” instead. What do you think of SBI’s crypto exchange? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, FSA, and SBI Group. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Japan’s SBI Cryptocurrency Exchange Now Live for 20,000 Users appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

In today’s Bitcoin in Brief – Zencash has lost $550,000 in two double-spend transactions following a 51% attack on the network. Developers have taken measures to increase the difficulty of future attacks. The event-ticketing platform Ticketfly is also trying to recover from a hijack. 26 million accounts have been reportedly compromised by a hacker who asked for bitcoin ransom. Also read: This Week in Bitcoin: Digital Money Makes the World Go Round Zencash Attacked with Two Double-Spends The Zencash network has been targeted in a 51% attack on Saturday, June 2. The attacker managed to successfully perform two double-spend transactions while reorganizing the blockchain multiple times and reverting 38 blocks in the longest reorganization. According to a released statement, the Zencash team received warning of potential attack from a pool operator and took measures to raise the difficulty of future attacks on the network, contacting exchanges to increase confirmation times and recommending a minimum of 100 required confirmations. The attacker(s) caused the reorganizations of the blockchain between blocks 318165 and 318275. They performed the double-spend attacks in blocks 318204 and 318234 – for 13,000 and 6,600 ZEN, respectively, worth more than $550,000 at current prices. According to the forensic analysis conducted with the affected exchange, the suspect pool address is znkMXdwwxvPp9jNoSjukAbBHjCShQ8ZaLib and the suspect exchange deposit address is zneDDN3aNebJUnAJ9DoQFys7ZuCKBNRQ115. At the time of the attack the network’s hashrate was 58MSol/s. Developers believe that the attacker has a private mining operation large enough to conduct the attack and/or supplement with rental hash power. Zencash is a proof of work coin based on the equihash algorithm. All equihash-based networks are exposed to possible influx of new equihash power, the team noted. Ticketfly Hijacked by Hacker, Trying to Recover Ticketfly has been reportedly attacked by a hacker who breached its website last week and demanded a ransom in bitcoin to release it. The event-ticketing platform is still trying to recover from the “cyber incident.” “We’re working to bring ticketfly.com back up as soon as possible,” its team said, notifying users that the site is offline. In correspondence with Motherboard, the supposed hacker claimed to have warned Ticketfly of a vulnerability that allowed him to take control of its database and website. The hijacker asked for 1 bitcoin (BTC) to explain the issue in details but did not receive a reply. According to the publication, after no ransom was paid, the attacker posted the user data online. “We have learned that some customer information has been compromised as part of the incident, including names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers of Ticketfly fans,” the company admitted without revealing how many accounts have been affected. According the data breach tracking website haveibeenpwned.com, more than 26 million accounts have been compromised, Marketwatch reports. It’s unclear whether any event tickets have been stolen but a number of promoters, clubs and upcoming shows have been affected by the breach. Ticketfly is owned by San-Francisco based Eventbrite, which bought the platform from Pandora Media in a $200 million deal about a year ago. Avalon Blockchain Unwinds Acquisition of Crypto Assets Avalon Blockchain Inc., formerly known as World Mahjong Ltd., has announced it has reached an agreement with Avalon Life S.A. to unwind the acquisition of crypto mining assets and cryptocurrencies it has previously bought. According to a press release, the two sides have not been able to reach a consensus in regards to the holding, conversion, trading, and arbitrage of the acquired digital currencies. World Mahjong Limited, a provider of online games and entertainment services, decided to enter the crypto sector through the acquisition of crypto mining abilities and cryptocurrency assets from the mining and community knowledge network Avalon Life SA and Avalon Projects Canada Inc. More than 27,000 ASIC mining machines were purchased, along with a number of Dash, Vivo, and Pura coins. Earlier this year it was reported that the company had also changed its name to Avalon Blockchain. In its latest statement, however, it said it was unable to execute its proposed business plan involving these crypto assets. Following the agreement with the vendor, Avalon Blockchain will return them to Avalon Life SA and will arrange the cancellation of 120,000,000 common shares that have been issued. Avalon Projects Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Avalon Blockchain, has completed the offering of 37,154,502 subscription receipts, at a price of $0.50 each. The company now intends to allow subscribers to rescind their subscriptions. All of them will be offered the option and will be entitled to a full refund of all subscription proceeds tendered to the company. What are your thoughts on today’s topics in Bitcoin in Brief? Let us know in the comments section 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 Monday: Zencash Targeted in 51% Attack, Ticketfly Hijacked for Ransom 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. In rapidly developing blockchain industry the lack of useful dApps is a vivid stopping factor for cryptocurrency mass adoption. There are little to no ways to use BTC, ETH or other crypto except for investments or speculations. Targeting exactly this problem, BCShop.io releases the platform where Ethereum ecosystem is provided with real utility value. Being available in test network for months, the product is finally launched in main network at https://bcshop.io/. The platform opens up great possibilities for cryptocurrency users to buy and sell goods and services with amazing benefits Ethereum blockchain provides. Focusing on digital products at the start, BCShop.io will be expanding to all areas of e-commerce and payments with cryptocurrency tech and regulation evolution. Available without any software installation and registration, the platform utilizes user’s Ethereum wallet address as one’s unique identifier allowing to access all functions via one of the most popular methods: Trezor, Ledger, Metamask, Keystore and private keys are supported. With pleasurable user experience in mind, BCShop.io aims to become one stop solution for new age of blockchain powered e-commerce and payments. “We are not cloning Amazon or E-Bay adding native cryptocurrency support. We are reinventing e-commerce and payments enhancing it with amazing opportunities blockchain technology has to offer. Today BCShop.io platform already supports automated business logic and incredibly low fees, smart escrow and unforgeable reputation system, decentralized exchange integration and flexible payment and pricing options. There are even more features to be implemented after initial launch.” States BCShop.io CEO and Founder Vladlen Manshin. Made available thanks to successful token sale, the platform utilizes its native BCS token at full capacity by providing exclusive utility benefits to token holders. Functions implemented right from the start include 50% fee discount for merchants, cash back reward program for buyers as well as alternative to ETH payment option. Token purchase can be made right at the BCShop.io website due to seamless decentralized exchange integration. As main network has been launched, heavily focused on development BCShop.io company is now looking for strategic partnerships to further promote cryptocurrency mass adoption. Strategic cooperation regarding enabling cross chain payments for goods and services, on-chain and off-chain private data management, alternative blockchains supports, stable coins support and global promotion to target audience is of very high priority. Business propositions are highly welcomed at bcshop@bcshop.io. Supporting Link https://bcshop.io/ 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: Bcshop.io Launches Ethereum Based E-Commerce and Payments Platform appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article