roadrunner

As the world’s largest exchange, Binance commands huge amounts of power. It can charge whatever it likes for a listing in the knowledge that altcoin projects will still cough up in return for the liquidity and legitimacy that a Binance listing brings. With great power comes great responsibility however, and some of the exchange’s new additions have a chequered past. Also read: How to Shuffle Your BCH Coins Like a Boss Binance Swallows Up Bytecoin As one of the oldest and least fashionable cryptocurrencies on the market, bytecoin was an unexpected addition to Binance. The exchange is more accustomed to listing the latest “must-have” tokens such as Wanchain, but appears willing to add any coin if the price is right. The addition of bytecoin (BCN), as well as other recent listings, has had some traders scratching their heads. BCN is a controversial coin due to an allegedly huge pre-mine when it launched in 2014. It then effectively disappeared off the radar before resurfacing last year. Until its appearance on Binance on May 8, bytecoin was only available on the unfashionable Stocks.Exchange, Hitbtc, and Poloniex. As much as 82% of the coin’s supply is believed to be in the hands of one entity, or a handful of entities at best, and it is also alleged to be susceptible to an infinite inflation bug that allows coins to be created out of thin air. This latter flaw may have now been fixed, but tellingly Onchainfx still lists BCN as a scamcoin alongside the likes of Bitconnect. Binance, Bytecoin, and the Big Pump Regardless of bytecoin’s murky past, its present is just as dubious. Every coin that is listed on Binance can expect an instant pump, but BCN’s was significantly higher than usual – and its fall equally spectacular. The coin rose by 270% in three hours before plummeting, leaving its daily gains at “just” 71%. Coin comparison site Coincodex called foul play as massive price discrepancies for BCN appeared between Binance and Poloniex. In a blog post, Coincodex wrote: Who in the world was buying BCN at a price which was 10 times higher than elsewhere? Perhaps there were some unwitting traders who didn’t want to miss out on a token that was going vertical and bought before checking prices on other exchanges, but it seems very unlikely that BCN trading activity on Binance today was entirely organic. Shortly after being listed on Binance, the bytecoin network stopped confirming transactions, prompting Poloniex to halt BCN withdrawals. According to Bytecoin, this was due to the network experiencing “unusually high load”, likely a consequence of BCN holders rushing to transfer their coins to Binance to catch the pump. Binance later issued its own update, advising users to “Please be cautious of high price volatility and trade with caution.” It is Binance’s prerogative to list whatever coins it likes, and it is not responsible for the prices that traders choose to pump coins to. Given the murky nature of bytecoin’s past, however, coupled with concerns over who owns the bulk of the circulating supply, it is hard to see how the community benefits from BCN being added to Binance. For so long as the exchange dominates the market, altcoins will clamor to be listed and traders will compete to catch the pump, regardless of the coin’s fundamentals. Do you think bytecoin is a scamcoin, or is it a legitimate cryptocurrency? 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 Binance’s Coin Listing Policy Raises Questions 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. A Singapore-based VC fund specializing in groundbreaking tech projects has become an investor in Ubank’s blockchain ecosystem for selling and buying real goods with cryptocurrency Ubank, the leading mobile payments app in the Eastern Europe, announced that it has secured an undisclosed amount of funding from the Singapore-based VC fund Amereus Group for the further development of its peer-to-peer blockchain platform Ubcoin Market that would allow its users to acquire cryptocurrency in exchange for real goods and its promotion in the booming Asian market. Amereus Group is an investment fund supporting innovative tech-enabled businesses in fintech, blockchain, IoT, e-commerce, cloud services, biomedicine, mobile Internet, EdTech, VR, and AR. The fund’s portfolio includes biotech companies Cleabridge Health and Liquidia, a crowdinvesting platform Capbridge, an online aggregator of logistic carriers for international cargo Deliver, and other projects. “We are excited to announce our decision to support the development of Ubcoin Market and its expansion into the Asian market. Ubcoin Market will become an integral part of Ubank, an app that has been successfully operating in the Eastern Europe for more than 5 years now and that is pre-installed on all Fly and Samsung smartphones, which is particularly impressive considering that only 9% of all ICO projects have a working business and/or product prior to the start of their crowdfunding campaign,“ comments Rim Hosup, Director at Amereus Group. “Apart from that, Ubank has ensured that their blockchain product meets all KYC and AML requirements and has conducted due diligence and all the other procedures proving the stability, transparency, and legality of the company and its structure. It is another very important point that sets Ubcoin Market apart from the majority of ICO projects and that has naturally influenced our decision”. Ubcoin Market utilizes blockchain technologies to create an easy-to-use tool that would solve problems of people wishing to enter the world of crypto investments in a hassle-free manner as well as of experienced blockchain market participants in need of a convenient method of spending their crypto wealth. The project is planning to start its expansion into the Asian market during the 2nd and 3d quarters of 2019. Ubcoin Market is going to conduct a detailed preparatory research of separate national markets in order to adjust their product development strategy for local cultures, and Ubcoin Market’s partnership with the Singapore-based Amereus Group will be highly valuable in that respect. “Asia is the most promising market for the development of our business — we believe that it is in these countries that our product will be most popular. That’s why we are thrilled to become partners with the investment fund Amereus Group that is willing to provide a financial support as well as a deep insight into different national markets of the continent,” says Felix Khachatryan, CEO and one of the co-founders of Ubank and Ubcoin Market. Amereus Group is the third major investment fund that has supported Ubank: in 2013, Ubank received an $8 million investment from Runa Capital and, in April 2018, an undisclosed amount of funding from Inventure Partners. Ubcoin Market is open to collaboration with other investment funds and pools focused on the ICO market and encourages them to contact the project now, at the stage of its token sale, when the project’s partners are guaranteed especially favourable terms. About Ubcoin Market Ubcoin Market is a blockchain project developing a smart ecosystem for easily investing and exiting cryptocurrency by buying and selling goods and services. Ubcoin Market was founded by the same team that founded Ubank, the leading mobile payments app in Eastern Europe that, as of today, has 2.5 million active users , more than 16 million downloads around the world, and has been pre-installed by Samsung and Fly. To learn more about the vision and the structure of the project visit its website and read is whitepaper. Contact Email Address elena@lavender-pr.com Supporting Link https://ubcoin.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: Ubcoin Market Receives Investment from Singapore-Based Amereus Group for the Expansion into the Asian Market appeared first on Bitcoin News. 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Indian police have raided a cryptocurrency mining operation whose establishment was funded by a nearly $15 million USD ponzi scheme. Police seized hundreds of mining cards. Also Read: Another Indian Company Challenges Ban on Crypto Banking Ponzi-Financed Ethereum Mine Raided in India Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell has conducted a raid on a cryptocurrency mining operation held in a 4,000 square foot complex in Dehradun. The raid occurred shortly after the April 25th arrest of the owners of the mine, Kamal Singh, and Vijay Kumar, who are accused of amassing Rs 100 crore (almost $14.9 million USD) through an illegal ponzi scheme promoted via bits2btc.com. Local reports have claimed that police found “over 100” Ethereum mining rigs comprised of “high-powered computer processors, 500 graphics cards, and servers.” The mine’s owners reportedly “told curious neighbors that [the mine] was a computer processor unit with servers of a big company.” Profits Used to Diversify Cryptocurrency Activities Through the interrogation of Mr. Singh and Mr. Kumar, police have determined that the Ethereum mining operation had been funded by the bits2btc ponzi scheme. The accused had elsewhere expanded their fraudulent operations, launching two cryptocurrencies, HBX and Mcap, in addition to another ponzi scheme – gainbitcoin.com. The accused had rented the property on which the mine was hosted since September 2017. Eight employees were hired to maintain the mining hardware. Police estimate that the cryptocurrency generated Rs 70 lakh (almost $105,000 USD) after three months of operating. Third Co-Founder Still at Large Local officers have been deployed to also arrest S.S. Alagh, the third co-founder of bits2btc.com. Arresting officers Jagdish and Yadav have stated that a rift was identified between Mr. Kumar and Mr. Singh, and Mr. Alagh which had escalated to the point where Mr. Kumar lodged a police complaint alleging kidnapping on the part of Mr. Alagh and his associates. “Kumar had lodged a complaint with the local police alleging that Alagh and his associates had kidnapped him,” an officer said, adding that the complaint had ultimately assisted authorities in making the arrests. A local employee of the mine has also been taken into custody. Police are currently investigating whether more cryptocurrency mining operations were established by the group. Do you think that we are likely to see more cryptocurrency-related investigations in India? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Indian Ponzi Scheme-Funded Cryptocurrency Mine Raided by Police appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Bitcoin paranoids rejoice. The technical details have emerged about Sirin Finney, an ultra secure mobile device promising to keep your cryptocurrency transactions private. The phone will feature an embedded cold storage wallet, and will be built by the same company that builds the iPhone. Also Read: Elon Musk Takes on Bitcoin-Bashing Warren Buffett Secure Element Sirin Labs has released the specifications for its “ultra-secure” cold storage crypto wallet-phone that is expected to hit markets later this year. The company, which raised $157.8 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) last year, was promoted by soccer superstar Leo Messi. Foxconn International Holding (FIH) will manufacture the Finny devices in its facilities, leading the original design and manufacturing of the phone, while Sirin will lead the development of the cold storage wallet hardware and the specialized operating system. The platform will be based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 with 128GB storage memory, 6GB RAM and Android 8.1. It will feature a 12MPx main camera and 8MPx selfie camera and an “ultra-secure” fingerprint sensor. The embedded cold storage wallet, which is said to support major cryptocurrencies and tokens, will be based on a tamper-resistant secure hardware element. The developers explained to news.bitcoin.com this means that “the wallet is completely disconnected from the phone in terms of net, electricity and everything. The moment you’d want to make a transaction, the wallet ‘heats up’ with just enough electricity needed for a transaction and then ‘cools’ back down. The whole secure element is completely separated from the main chipset.” State of the Art Foxconn (TWSE: 2317) is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer and the largest private sector employer in China. It is most widely known in the West for producing Apple’s iPhone and iPad but it manufactures many more devices including Amazon’s Kindle, Nintendo’s 3DS and Wii U, Sony’s PlayStation 4, and Microsoft’s Xbox One, to name a few. Zvika Landau, Co-CEO of Sirin Labs, commented: “Our team has been working vigorously to make sure that the first blockchain smartphone is cutting edge in all technical aspects. Our collaboration with FIH ensures that we will be offering state-of-the-art design with device architecture that will enable true security and user-friendly blockchain experience.” Back in March of this year, the Chinese smartphone maker Huawei was rumored to be in serious talks with Sirin Labs about the device. And according to the company, preorders for the phone are already more than 25,000. Would you want a crypto phone manufactured by Foxconn? Share your thoughts 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 Details Emerge on Foxconn-Manufactured Ultra-Secure Crypto Phone appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The chairman of the economic committee of Iran’s parliament has revealed that Iranians have sent more than $2.5 billion out of the country to purchase cryptocurrencies with. His statement follows the country’s central bank banning local banks from dealing with digital currencies including bitcoin. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space $2.5 Billion Capital Flight Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, the Chairman of the Economic Commission of the Parliament of Iran, was quoted saying last week by Ibena.ir news agency: Based on the existing data, few people in Iran are cryptocurrency users and more than 2.5 billion dollars has been sent out of the country for buying digital currencies. Central Bank of Iran building. He previously told Isna newspaper that Iranians had transferred $30 billion out of the country over the few months ending March. “Iranians do not have access to the international banking system and the transfers can only occur through unconventional ways, such as exchange dealers or international travelers,” Radiofarda explained. The chairman’s statement came on the heels of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) banning banks and financial institutions from dealing with cryptocurrencies, citing money laundering and terrorism financing risks. Iran’s National Cryptocurrency Iran’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Minister, Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi, recently confirmed that an experimental local cryptocurrency has been developed and a test model was ready. However, in an interview with Ibena.ir last week, Pourebrahimi said that “No virtual national currency has been designed in the country at the present [time].” Nonetheless, he explained that Iran’s national crypto can “facilitate economic deals and circumvent sanctions,” the news outlet conveyed. Citing that “the future of the world economy will be done on digital currencies,” the chairman was quoted asserting that the national cryptocurrency “can pave the path for multilateral currency swap agreements between Iran and countries which are enthusiastic to have economic cooperation with Iran but they couldn’t have it so far owing to the sanctions.” He also elaborated: The structure of the cryptocurrency should be suitable for economic activity and be acceptable at the international level simultaneously. Pourebrahimi believes one of the benefits of cryptocurrencies “is [the] absence of [the] American regulator,” which he admitted can circumvent sanctions. His statement echoes Azari-Jahromi’s statement made last week that “All cryptocurrencies have the ability to circumvent sanctions because they are not under the supervision of the US financial regulator.” Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by restoring sanctions on Iranian oil exports. What do you think of Iranians spending $2.5 billion to buy crypto abroad? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Azernews. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post $2.5 Billion Sent Out of Iran to Purchase Cryptocurrencies appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The Israeli banking system keeps mounting challenges for bitcoin users, be they exchanges, miners or just traders, and keeps getting slapped for it by the courts. The latest example comes from Tel Aviv where a bank tried to deny incoming transfers from an exchange. Also Read: Israeli Bitcoin Mining Company Sues Bank for Closing Its Account Bank Uses AML as Excuse to Block Bitcoin Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI), Israel’s largest bank, has been forced by the Tel Aviv District Court to accept a transfer of funds resulting from the sale of bitcoin. A client of the bank was denied an incoming transfer of $195,000 from a European bitcoin trading venue into his joint account. Hapoalim claimed that there was a reasonable basis for concern that the sale of bitcoin was linked to money laundering and financing of terror, this despite the existence of documents indicating the exact source of the funds used for the purchase in this case and enabling ability to track the money from beginning to end. In addition, the transaction was duly reported by the client to the Israel Tax Authority. None of this was sufficient to convince the bank, which insisted on its refusal, and even informed the client that it intended to return the funds within a week. This Sunday the two sides faced each other in court and the bank folded. In a hearing before judge Limor Bibi regarding a request for temporary injunction, it became clear that there is no real suspicion of violations of AML laws or of taxation offenses, and the bank was forced to agree that the funds would be deposited in the client’s account immediately. For his part, the trader agreed to sign an IRS W8 form proclaiming he has no linkage to the US. This indicates, that like in previous cases, the Israeli bank’s real concern is an eventual crackdown by American regulators. Interestingly the court also rejected the bank’s request for a gag order regarding the case. Extreme Escalation Doron, Tikotzky, Kantor, Gutman & Amit Gross, the law firm which represented the plaintiffs, commented: “Recently, we have witnessed an extreme escalation in the banks’ fight against Bitcoin and the other virtual currencies. In what appears to be a planned policy of targeted assassination, the banks are preventing their customers from returning foreign money originating in virtual currencies to their Israeli accounts, even though the clients wish to declare the movement of the funds and pay their taxes according to the law.” “This is an important precedent that obliges the banking system as a whole to reconsider its policy regarding funds originating in virtual currency transactions, while conducting a real and relevant examination of each ad hoc transaction, rather than automatically denying each transaction without examining it on its merits,” they added about the outcome of the case. Should the regulators act against banks who refuse to serve bitcoin businesses? Share your thoughts 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 Tel Aviv Court Forces Bank to Accept Funds From Sale of Bitcoin appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On Tuesday, May 8, the Bitcoin Cash Fund and the Yeewallet team announced a partnership that aims to further spread bitcoin cash (BCH) adoption. The organizations’ plan to bolster BCH adoption by airdropping 20 BCH to Yeewallet users who meet the airdrop requirements. Also read: Bitcoin in Brief Tuesday: Bank Wires, Tickets, and Diplomas on Blockchain Tech The Bitcoin Cash Fund and Yeecall Partner to Further Spread BCH Adoption This week, the Bitcoin Cash Fund (BCF) and the creators of the Yee application have announced a strategic agreement that aims to spread bitcoin cash adoption to the millions of Yeewallet users. The firm’s Yeewallet is a recently launched multi-cryptocurrency wallet that also features internet voice calls using the popular Yeecall platform. BCF is a nonprofit organization that’s been committed to spreading bitcoin cash adoption worldwide, and the group believes Yee’s 33 million users getting some BCH will help promote the cryptocurrency’s use. Yee has also just added BCH support for the Yeewallet interface, with the firm explaining that this week’s airdrop will help the bitcoin cash network effect spread. “Yee believes that the support of BCH on Yeewallet will not only enrich the Yeecall’s application scenario and satisfy our Yeecall users’ needs, but also extend the BCH’s influence and promote the development of BCH community,” explains the Yee company. The Yeewallet is a multi-cryptocurrency wallet that was launched on the first week of April. It is also integrated with the popular Yeecall app – that has 33 million users. Breaking Down the Barrier to Entry With 33 Million Users The Bitcoin Cash Fund. In order to participate in Yee’s bitcoin cash airdrop, users need to meet specific requirements by the specific snapshot date (5/9/18 23:59:59 GMT+8) which is: Yeewallet users must hold at least 10,000 tokens of the company’s native coin called YEE, and those who meet the requirements will share 20 BCH. The Bitcoin Cash Fund board member Paul Wasensteiner tells news.Bitcoin.com that “the BCH airdrop will be divided proportionally based on the quantity of YEE they have in their wallet, with a minimum of 10,000 YEE as a requirement.” News.Bitcoin.com also chatted with Paul Wasensteiner about the latest BCF initiative with Yee – who told us he believes that the airdrop is a great opportunity to spread bitcoin cash far and wide. “Bitcoin Cash technology needs to be ingrained into almost everything we use to communicate — The internet allowed almost any person in the world to communicate with anyone else, and Bitcoin Cash will do the same for money. By integrating a Bitcoin Cash wallet into a popular messaging app like Yeecall, and even providing some free BCH so people can see how easy it is to use, the barrier to entry for these users has been completed removed,” BCF’s Wasensteiner explains. 33 million people will now have access to complete financial freedom. Using Bitcoin Cash should be as easy as sending a tweet, and we feel this partnership is a huge step in making this a reality, and brings us closer to our goal of reaching one billion users within five years. Making Bitcoin Cash Accessible and Easy to Use for Every Single Person Worldwide Wasensteiner tells news.Bitcoin.com that full instructions on how to participate in the BCF and Yee airdrop can be found here, and Yee users can also join the official group in Yeecall. Wasensteiner also emphasized that initiatives like these that utilize bitcoin cash will help promote the goal of financial freedom to every single person worldwide. “Bitcoin Cash is going to open up the global economy and bring financial freedom to every single person on the planet, but before we can achieve that we need to make it as accessible and as easy to use as possible,” Wasensteiner concludes. What do you think about the BCF initiative with Yee? Do you think initiatives like this are good for spreading adoption? Let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below. Images via Shutterstock, the Bitcoin Cash Fund, Yeewallet, and Pixabay. The Bitcoin universe is vast. So is Bitcoin.com. Check our Wiki, where you can learn everything you were afraid to ask. Or read our news coverage to stay up to date on the latest. Or delve into statistics on our helpful tools page. The post Bitcoin Cash Fund and Yeewallet Plan to Airdrop 20 BCH 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. Rumor confirmed Leaks have appeared all over the web for the past month or so, but it’s official now. ASKfm announced its blockchain-based upgrade ASKfm 2.0 claiming to monetize knowledge in all of its forms. No wonder such a move form a major player couldn’t fly under the radar. One giant leap ASKfm is currently the largest Q&A social network worldwide, hosting 600 million questions monthly. The coming ASKfm 2.0 aims to transform the platform from the knowledge exchange of today into a knowledge economy. The company states that blockchain technology can effectively reshape access to knowledge and its evaluation. They tokenize interactions within the social media, rewarding people whose answers are well-received and demanded. This way, they claim, expertise gains intrinsic value and serves as a centerpiece for the new economy. The way to sustainability We reached out to Maxym Tsaryk, CEO at ASKfm. The company has been framing a blockchain solution for quite some time now, and they’re finally presenting it. Max says: “We are settling our high-loaded blockchain Q&A platform — that’s why we are introducing a new cryptocurrency token not on a whim but out of conceptual necessity, as without it, the product wouldn’t be able to exist. Blockchain opens a path to democratic environments, to self-regulating economic models governed by market laws and mechanisms. We do not see the future for ASKfm, technologies and social networks without blockchain.” Open for participation 215 million of existing ASKfm users will have the option to switch to ASKfm 2.0, register a wallet, and receive tokens for that. The community, as usual, will also be able to take part in ASKfm’s upcoming ICO event during the year. In total, the social media plans to sell $100,000,000 worth of tokens. According to the company, its private sale is already ongoing with minimum amounts starting from a million dollars. The dates and terms of the crowdsale are yet to be determined. The broader public can currently only apply for the whitelist. For that, ASKfm launched a dedicated website. To read more about ASKfm 2.0 and request participation, please visit askfm.io Contact Email Address pr@ask.fm Supporting Link askfm.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: ASKfm to Tokenize Social Interactions. 215 Million Users Involved appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

There are a bunch of unique bitcoin cash wallets these days and even more interesting clients on the horizon. However, there is one particular bitcoin cash (BCH) wallet called Electron Cash that’s been around since the inception of BCH offering a secure platform and now the ability to shuffle BCH with the Cashshuffle plugin. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space The BCH-Centric Electron Cash Wallet Today we’re going to discuss how to install the Electron Cash wallet, a light client that provides users the ability to control their own private keys. The platform provides users with a secure SPV wallet that doesn’t need to download the entire BCH chain. The Electron Cash client is a fork of the Electrum wallet software and was developed by a programmer that uses the pseudonym ‘Jonald Fyookball.’ The latest release of Electron Cash is the 3.2 version which can be found at electroncash.org website alongside the source code which is also located on Github. In order to install Electron Cash, you need to choose which operating system works best out of four choices — Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and Android. Creating a Standard Wallet With Electron Cash After downloading the desired client for your operating system, open the application when the download finishes. Some machines will require an administrator password to open the Electron Cash client. When the program begins the user is then asked whether or not they want to tether to a manually configured server or auto-connect to the client’s servers. Choosing the auto-connect is the easiest route, and then Electron Cash asks you to name your wallet or you can leave it named as “default wallet.” After downloading the Electron Cash client, you are asked to either configure your own server or auto connect to the list of servers, and name the BCH wallet. The next step shows one of the Electron Cash features other BCH wallets don’t provide — The ability to create a multi-signature wallet. This means more than one individual can share a wallet, and the Electron Cash program will not sign a transaction unless the other person authorizes the transaction. Essentially, the multi-signature technology allows Electron Cash to send and receive encrypted transmissions of partially signed transactions. For a full explanation on how Electron Cash multi-signature wallets work, and how to create one, can be found here. From here Electron Cash allows you to create a standard wallet, multi-signature wallet, or import an existing wallet. At this stage, you can also import an existing address or private keys but for this walkthrough, we chose to create a ‘standard wallet.’ Following choosing the ‘standard wallet’ option the program will ask the user if they want to create a new seed and encrypt the wallet with a password. Encrypting the wallet with a password is optional, but a less secure option if it is not used. If you choose a good password, make sure you write it down as it is required to access the funds held on an Electron Cash wallet. If an encrypted password is not chosen you can leave the field blank and users can encrypt the wallet at any time after creation. Always write your seed down on something physical that can be hidden like a piece of paper. Never take a screenshot or picture of your seed. After choosing to create a new seed the Electron Cash wallet gives a twelve-word phrase as a backup. The program will show you the seed and its best to write down the twelve words on a piece of paper that’s ultimately kept hidden and safe from prying eyes. After being shown the seed phrase Electron Cash will ask the user to verify the twelve words by typing each one in the next field. After completing this task the wallet is ready for receiving, sending, signing digital signatures, and more. A view of the Electron Cash wallet 3.2 version standard wallet. The Cashshuffle Plugin Now for those who are touch more tech savvy they can download the Cashshuffle plugin that works for Windows and Linux. The Cashshuffle plugin allows users to mix their coins by utilizing a Coinjoin method so the origins of where the BCH derived from is obfuscated. Essentially you need to edit a few lines of code within the Readme file to add the Cashshuffle feature into your Electron Cash directory. After the editing of the code is complete the shuffling feature will be available within the wallet interface. The Cashshuffle plugin for the Electron Cash wallet can only be installed on Windows, and Linux versions. In order to make a shuffle, you need an address with at least 0.01 to 0.1 BCH held in the UTXO’s in your wallet and then choose a server from the list. After choosing a server and selecting a change address and shuffle output address you can then enable the shuffling process. When five participants are on the same server, the mixing process will start and if things go wrong you will see an error in the dialogue window. Moreover, you can also configure the servers list and add your own server to the index. An in-depth walkthrough about the necessary code changes needed to install the Cashshuffle plugin alongside the plugin’s source code, and the plugin itself can be found here. In order to make a shuffle, you need an address with at least 0.01 to 0.1 BCH held in the UTXO’s in your wallet and then choose a server from the list. iOS and Feature Phone Client Coming Soon The Electron Cash wallet is a simple to use and secure light client for multiple operating systems and offers a few features other wallets don’t provide. According to the Github repository, Jonald Fyookball is the Electron Cash lead developer, but 205 contributors have helped this project according to the repo. As mentioned above, the wallet is available for most operating systems, but unfortunately, there is no client software built for iOS devices. However, the development team recently announced that Coingeek will be funding the Electron Cash project and more features were recently added to the software roadmap. Electron Cash developers are planning to launch an iOS version and a feature phone (Nokia) version of the wallet as well. What do you think about the Electron Cash wallet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Disclaimer: Walkthrough editorials are intended for informational purposes only. There are multiple security risks and methods that are ultimately made by the decisions of the user. There are various steps mentioned in reviews and guides and some of them are optional. Neither Bitcoin.com nor the author is responsible for any losses, mistakes, skipped steps or security measures not taken, as the ultimate decision-making process to do any of these things is solely the reader’s responsibility. For good measure always cross-reference guides with other walkthroughs found online. Images via Pixabay, Github, the Electron Cash Wallet, and the Coinshuffle Plugin. At news.Bitcoin.com all comments containing links are automatically held up for moderation in the Disqus system. That means an editor has to take a look at the comment to approve it. This is due to the many, repetitive, spam and scam links people post under our articles. We do not censor any comment content based on politics or personal opinions. So, please be patient. Your comment will be published. The post How to Shuffle Your BCH Coins Like a Boss appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The prospect of transferring an entire national payment system to blockchain technology deserves attention and we are covering the story in today’s Bitcoin in Brief. Reports that Russia may transform its version of SWIFT as early as next year coincided with the news that the US banking giant JP Morgan has applied for a blockchain patent for inter-bank payments. Projects to secure documents, diplomas, and even tickets using blockchain technologies are also part of Tuesday’s round-up. Also read: Bitcoin in Brief Monday: Elon Musk Takes on Bitcoin-Bashing Warren Buffett Russian Version of SWIFT to Be Transferred to Blockchain in 2019 Russia may put its money transferring system on a blockchain as early as next year, according to local media reports. Authorities in Moscow are planning to convert the Financial Communications Transfer System (SPFS), Russia’s equivalent to SWIFT, to a blockchain system, sources close to the Russian central bank told Izvestia. SPFS was developed as a backup alternative following discussions in the West on proposals to withdraw SWIFT from Russia as part of the sanctions imposed after the annexation on Crimea. The system was implemented in 2014, when Centrobank also developed its own version of bank cards called Mir. At the time, several Russian banks were denied services by US-based Visa and Mastercard. Mir cards were first issued in 2015. Last year their number reached 19 million. Almost 600 banks currently use the Russian national payments system, which now covers countries in the European Economic Area (EEA). Its transaction costs are lower than those of SWIFT, which makes it attractive to foreign financial services providers. The move of SPFS to blockchain technology would be a major development in both the banking sector and the blockchain industry. American Giant Eyes Blockchain for Inter-Bank Transfers As it turns out, blockchain tech is attractive not only to sanctioned Russian banks. American investment banking giant JP Morgan Chase has applied for a patent to facilitate inter-bank payments using the technology underpinning cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. The application was submitted in October last year but the news surfaced last week. The patent is essentially a variation on blockchain technology, as news.Bitcoin.com reported. It outlines a system that would use distributed ledger technology to keep track of payments between financial institutions. Motivating its application, the New York-based financial company points out that the number of messages between banks and clearing houses involved in cross-border bank wires often results in delays and restricted availability of funds. According to JP Morgan, the blockchain would eliminate high costs and provide a system for accurate transaction logging. It would also allow them to process payments in real time and audit the transfers in a verifiable way. The patent application comes as a surprise, given that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon has a record of downplaying the importance of crypto technologies, calling bitcoin a “fraud” and vowing to fire anyone from his team if they traded bitcoin. Startup Recording Diplomas on Blockchain Raises $3 million Learning Machine Technologies, a software company working with governments, businesses, and educational systems to develop official blockchain records, has raised $3 million dollars. The seed round was led by PTB Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in the emerging digital identity ecosystem, and included strategic investments from Omidyar Network and Learn Capital. Learning Machine’s software facilitates the issuing of blockchain-based credentials called “Blockcerts”. The concept has been developed in partnership with the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. According to the partners, the Blockcerts standard can be used to record digital diplomas on blockchain. Blockcerts can be issued to any public or private blockchain, including those of bitcoin and ethereum, and do not require proprietary software to view or verify. The Blockcerts standard is open source and allows for full security audits. It is a community extension hosted by international technical standards organization IMS Global. “Learning Machine counts governments, multinational corporations and leading educational institutions as customers of its enterprise issuing system,” said CEO Chris Jagers, quoted by PRnewswire. In his words, the platform makes issuing Blockcerts seamless for institutions and provides them “a bird’s-eye view of their credentialing operation”. The software also helps policymaking, workforce development and alumni relations with detailed analytics. Blockchain Certificate to Replace Five Documents in “Digital Kazakhstan” At least five documents issued by authorities in Kazakhstan are to be replaced with blockchain-based certificates. A newly developed application called Azamat is capable of issuing electronic versions of driver’s licenses, vehicle registrations and inspection certificates, insurance policies, and proof of identity documents. Azamat also allows access to the recorded information through a QR scan. The project is part of the state-sponsored efforts to digitize many services offered by government institutions and also the economy of the Central Asian country. The “Digital Kazakhstan” program was announced by Astana towards the end of last year. Authorities are preparing amendments to the current legislation that would allow the “complete replacement of paper documents” with digital copies. Adele Tickets on the Blockchain? The secondary market for tickets in Great Britain costs billions of dollars each year. A last-minute decision to attend an Adele concert could mean spending up to $12,000 on the black market, according to The Guardian. Aventus is a company that hopes to solve the problem with the illegal resales using blockchain technologies. Its platform will be tested with the sale of 10,000 tickets for a variety of events in Europe and the US. Aventus has teamed up with another blockchain platform, Blocside, to try its concept during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia this summer. It also hopes to offer its services to Premier League football clubs in the United Kingdom. Its team claims that the blockchain technology ensures the data on the tickets remains unaltered and protected from forgery. Ticket fraud is a profitable illicit business in the UK, with an annual turnover estimated at $1.3 billion. Do you think the implementation of distributed ledger technologies and the use of the blockchains of leading cryptocurrencies in other sectors will increase? Tell is 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 Tuesday: Bank Wires, Tickets, and Diplomas on Blockchain Tech 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. Horizon Communications is a ISP startup based in Bermuda. The company plans to deploy a wireless state-of-the-art internet solution in the Caribbean, South and Central America, with an ambitious plan to deploy their services worldwide. Their aim is to provide high speed internet and cell phone services to replace obsolete equipment and technology that is easily disrupted by natural disasters and suffers from aging copper and cable infrastructure.These legacy networks are no longer economically viable. Communities around the world are plagued with expensive and slow internet and cellular services, which makes Horizon’s plans to provide much faster, reliable services unique in the ICO space. Very few, if any ICO’s are looking to build infrastructure to service a real need in the market. The HRZN Token will be the only form of payment for the customer, with Horizon building a web portal for customers that will include fiat to HRZN Token exchanges to be as easy and seamless as possible. Horizon will also be incorporating partner technologies in the blockchain space into its customer portal, allowing a new level of blockchain adoption that has yet to hit the mainstream. The company’s Founder and CEO, Mr Gilbert Darrell recently announced the soft launch of the ICO with the pre-sale starting April 1st. The company has been working around the clock to ensure a seamless delivery for the pre-sale. One of the collaborations they have made is the integration of Coingate, a cryptocurrency processor that supports up to fifty digital currencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Mr Darrell said that with Coingate, non technical investors would be able to purchase the Horizon token easily since the platform is user friendly. With the Horizon ICO launch in view, it ushers in a new era for the people of Bermuda, Horizon’s headquarters and the Caribbean who have been beleaguered by slow internet services due to ageing and outdated equipment. It also heralds a class of cryptocurrency participation that gives investors more than a token, as the HRZN Token is underpinned by the customers in its telecommunications network buying internet, cell phone, VoIP and IPTV services. Horizon estimates that total yearly gross income from its services may approach $100m USD in 5 years, as it expands. One phenomenon that seemed to have been absent in many ICOs was the ability to actually provide a solution or deliver products which solved the needs of its customers. It is obvious that aside from moving cryptocurrencies around, many projects rarely solve problems affecting people and the services they require. This is the reason Horizon vision has stood out amongst crypto enthusiasts and why there is an such a strong interest in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community. The company’s release said that interested investors should visit the company website at https://www.horizoncomm.co/ to buy the HRZN Token and learn more about the company. Follow Us on social Media: Telegram: https://t.me/HorizonCommICO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HRZNComm/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HorizonCoin Supporting Link https://www.horizoncomm.co/ Contact Email Address sydney@ifergan.com This is a paid press release. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the promoted company or any of its affiliates or services. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in the press release. The post PR: Horizon Communications, an ICO Building Telecommunication Infrastructure, Is Now Live appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Russian arbitration court of appeals has recognized cryptocurrency as a property with value in its ruling on Monday. This overturned a previous ruling by another court even though Russia currently has no legal framework for cryptocurrencies. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Crypto Recognized as Property The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that a bankrupt person’s cryptocurrency must be included in the debtor’s bankruptcy estate, local media reported. The case involves Russian citizen Ilya Tsarkov who filed bankruptcy in October last year. The court has ordered his cryptocurrencies to be transferred to the trustee, Alexei Leonov, who is expected to be handed the private key to the crypto wallet belonging to Tsarkov soon. According to Vedomosti, Tsarkov owns almost 0.2 bitcoin which is worth approximately US$1,885 at current market rates. “The cryptocurrency was first recognized as property in Russia,” Ris Novosti reported. Leonov commented that with this ruling: The court indirectly recognized the cryptocurrency as property and recognized its value. Court Recognizes Crypto Prior to Monday’s ruling, the case was heard in February by the Moscow Arbitration Court, which ordered Tsarkov to disclose his cryptocurrency holdings after he revealed to the bankruptcy trustee that he had a wallet at Blockchain.info. Leonov requested the court to order the transfer of Tsarkov’s cryptocurrencies into the bankruptcy estate, but the court rejected his request at the time, stating that cryptocurrency cannot be used to pay creditors since “the laws of the Russian Federation do not recognize cryptocurrency as property.” However, with Monday’s ruling, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeals overturned the judgment of the Moscow Arbitration Court after Leonov appealed. Russian Legal Information Agency Rapsi conveyed the court’s explanation: Currently Russian legislation does not provide the definition of cryptocurrency and there are no requirements for its circulation. There is no way to tell if it is property, information or a ‘surrogate’…it is impossible to regulate the relations involving cryptocurrency. Leonov cited “the position of the European Court of Human Rights on the issue of property and a bankruptcy case in Japan, where a court permitted to sell the debtor’s cryptocurrency,” the agency noted. “The lower court should have taken into account modern economic realities and new information technologies…bad-faith parties could exploit the fact that cryptocurrencies were excluded from bankruptcy estates by converting their assets and thus rendering them inaccessible,” he reportedly conveyed. What do you think of the court’s ruling? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Cryptocurrency Recognized as Valuable Property by Russian Court appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A Norwegian district court has ruled in favor of Norway’s largest bank against a local cryptocurrency exchange. The court says the bank has full rights to close the account of the exchange, citing money laundering risks and criminal activities associated with bitcoin trading. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Court Ruled in Favor of Bank Oslo District Court. Oslo District Court, known in Norwegian as Oslo tingrett, has ruled in favor of Nordea Bank against a local bitcoin exchange, Bitmynt AS, according to E24. The court’s verdict states that “after a global assessment, [there is] no doubt that the risk of money laundering and transactions related to criminal offenses is clearly elevated by bitcoin trade.” The news outlet further quoted the court’s ruling: The court finds it clear that this risk constitutes an objective reason for the bank to deny customer relationships under the Financial Contracts Act §21. Nordea “is the largest financial services group in the Nordic region and one of the biggest banks in Europe,” according to its website. The bank has a presence in 17 countries, total operating income of EUR 9.5 billion (~US$11.33 billion) and total assets of EUR 581.6 billion (~$693.53 billion) in 2017. Responding to the court’s decision, Bitmynt founder Sturle Sunde emphasized in a statement that his exchange “lost [the case] despite having followed the Money Laundering Act and is not suspected of criminal activity.” He is “disappointed with the result, saying the sentence goes a long way in limiting more than just his own business,” the news outlet conveyed and quoted him expressing: It’s very frustrating to get this judgment. The court has in practice put a ban on bitcoin trading. Ongoing Fight The fight with Nordea Bank began last year for Sunde and Bitmynt. In the autumn of last year, the bank closed the exchange’s account “due to the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing,” Norwegian publication Dn described, adding: According to Nordea, there were up to 1,400 transactions a month through his account, all of which concern the purchases and sales of bitcoin. Sunde subsequently sued the bank. However, Oslo District Court “believes Nordea was in full right to deny Sunde and his company customer relations with the bank. The court rules that the bank is obliged to discontinue customer relationships if it involves the risks of transactions related to criminal offenses,” the news outlet elaborated. Furthermore, E24 noted that “the court considers that the way Sunde conducts Bitmynt trading prevents Nordea from fulfilling its obligations regarding customer control and ongoing follow-ups under the Money Laundering Act.” Sunde disagreed, claiming that “the judge did not understand the matter well enough” and he plans to appeal the court’s decision. What do you think of the court allowing banks to close the accounts of crypto exchanges? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bloomberg, and Wikipedia. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Norwegian Court Rules Nordea Bank Can Close Account of Crypto Exchange appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

If there’s one thing that rival cryptocurrency factions can agree on, it’s their mutual dislike of one other. Everything else is up for debate, and not calm, reasonable debate, but the sort of fevered in-fighting that makes the crypto community resemble an unruly rabble. This internecine squabbling has arguably done more to hinder cryptocurrency adoption than any external threat. Also read: Washington Utility Increases Security Amid Crypto Mining Moratorium Tribalism Will Be the Death of Cryptocurrency Ripple supporters squabbling with Dogecoin diehards; Bitcoin Core and Cash maximalists constantly sniping; Vergelets lashing out against everyone; IOTA being IOTA. It’s easy to forget, amidst all the hullabaloo and name-calling, that we’re all on the same side. Crypto communities have more that unites them than divides them, and yet you wouldn’t think so at times. Humans have been falling out with fellow humans ever since the Garden of Eden (replace the serpent with Segwit and the forbidden fruit with Lightning to complete the analogy). Religious factions (or “forks”) have been attacking one another for centuries over slight ideological differences, and on crypto Twitter it’s much the same. Welcome to Crypto – Now Get Out Last week, Jackson Palmer expressed his frustration at constant attacks from Ripple supporters over XRP data on his Arewedecentralizedyet site. Such attacks are by no means isolated, and Ripple is certainly not the only community to face such charges. Crypto would be boring if everyone always got on, and differences of opinion were settled by courteous fedora tipping. One of the reasons why altcoin communities bicker is because their members are so passionate about crypto, but this zealotry risks alienating newcomers. In “Divided We Fail: The Irrational Insanity of Crypto Tribalism” Kent Barton writes: “We’re all part of the same technological revolution. Yet here we are, wasting precious time and energy attacking ourselves…tribal thinking will do nothing to make the world a better and freer place. Its only beneficiaries are the centralized entities we seek to disintermediate.” That’s not to say that detractors can’t call Ripple a “centralized security” or Tron “shitcoin vaporware” if they want to: the beauty of crypto is that nobody can tell you what do do. You get to control your keys, your crypto, and the conversations you have with your fellow coiners. You can be insightful, funny, a jerk or a combination of all three. But if you’re constantly bashing other cryptocurrencies, or attacking anyone who criticizes your own, maybe it’s time to step away from the keyboard for a moment and remind yourself of why you got into cryptocurrency in the first place. It’s not crypto vs crypto: it’s crypto vs the rest of the world. Win the battle for mass adoption and there’ll be plenty of time afterwards for squabbling over scalability. Do you think crypto communities are too divisive, and does in-fighting deter onlookers? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter. This is an Op-ed article. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com does not endorse nor support views, opinions or conclusions drawn in this post. Bitcoin.com is not responsible for or liable for any content, accuracy or quality within the Op-ed article. Readers should do their own due diligence before taking any actions related to the content. Bitcoin.com is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any information in this Op-ed article. The post Cryptocurrency Communities Just Can’t Get Along appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Miami-based Cblocks has announced that it will relocate to Canada, citing a lack of regulatory clarity regarding cryptocurrency in the United States as the principal catalyst for the move. Also Read: South Korean Top Regulator Considers Easing Cryptocurrency Regulations Cblocks to Relocate to Canada Cblocks, a Miami-based company that generated $32,000 in a month through selling beginner traders mystery boxes of assorted cryptocurrencies, has announced its intention to move to Canada. Cblocks has cited regulatory hurdles as the principal reason for the relocation, claiming that lawyers from two different legal firms were unable to determine the precise legal classification and legislative apparatus governing the company’s operations. Cblocks sells an encrypted USB containing five random cryptocurrencies that are chosen on behalf of customers in exchange for a $50 USD service fee. Despite the company’s primary product tangibly comprising a USB drive, Cblocks could be considered a money services business under U.S. law – as the cryptocurrencies distributed by the company may be considered to be securities. “They can’t agree as to whether we’re a money services business or not,” Cblocks chief executive officer and co-founder, Auston Bunsen said. “Canada has much friendlier regulation when it comes to cryptocurrencies. They only require a federal registration,” Mr. Bunsen added. Canadian Regulatory Apparatus Less Expensive for Cblocks In addition to stringent anti-money laundering requirements, being classified as a money services business would incur significant registration fees. In Canada, complying with the same money services regulations will not incur fees, further motivating the company’s relocation. Cblocks expects to be officially incorporated within a few weeks, anticipating to launch for Canadian customers during May. Despite the company’s official relocation, Cblocks’ founders will stay in Miami, and exclusively target Canadian users for the time being, however, at least one Canadian citizen is needed on the company’s board in order for Cblocks to qualify for Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada licensing. Growing Calls for Regulatory Clarity From Crypto Industry Managing Director of United Kingdom-based online trading platform, Iqbal Gandham, also chairs a trade group seeking greater clarity regarding the regulatory implications for cryptocurrency businesses. “The benefits of regulation are clear,” Mr. Gandham said. “An appropriate framework would serve to both protect consumers, and ensure the longevity and legitimacy of the industry itself.” Mr. Gandham advocates the development of a regulatory apparatus tailored to the particularities of cryptocurrency, criticizing suggestions that existing financial legislation can be stretched to govern the operations of the cryptocurrency companies. “Given that we are dealing with new and nascent technology, we wouldn’t want to simply cherry pick from existing regulation developed for other asset classes,” Mr. Gandham said. Marc Ostwald, global strategist for ADM Invest Services International in London, emphasized the significance of anti-money laundering considerations for businesses operating with cryptocurrency. “This is all about where the burden of proof lies for anti-money-laundering, so wanting regulations seems very sensible,” Mr. Ostwald said. “Even if you’re making a killing in trading, someone could come up with an unexpected piece of regulation that puts a big red line through your business plan.” Eric Demuth, the co-chief executive officer of Vienna-based Bitpanda, stated: “We’d be happy to have regulations, so we know where we stand.” Do you think that cryptocurrency regulations are in need of reform? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Cblocks Moves to Canada Citing Regulatory Hurdles appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Mike Finch, the co-founder of ICO Alert, has discussed the present state of the initial coin offering (ICO) industry. Mr. Finch shared his assessment that although the social media advertising ban has had a significant adverse effect upon the performance of promotional campaigns for ICOs, the number of new ICOs brought to market has significantly risen when compared with last year. In other ICO news, regulators in Colorado are investigating two companies that it believes have unlawfully promoted ICOs to Colorado citizens. Also Read: 46% of Last Year’s ICOs Have Failed Already ICOs Adapt to Social Media Advertising Ban In a recent interview, Mike Finch, co-founder of ICO Alert, discussed how the ICO industry has responded to the recent advertising bans introduced by major social media platforms. Mr. Finch stated that although the engagement has declined on major platforms, the ban is forcing companies to focus their energy on targeting select audiences. “There are two ways to look at this, for both ICOs and ICO marketing/consulting agencies, Mr. Finch said. “On one hand, it is bad because it decreases the sheer [number] of avenues for ICOs to advertise and you could argue it hurts the industry. On the other hand, I think it is good because it inherently requires ICOs to focus more on reaching the right audience. Advertising ICOs is very difficult because it’s hard to market to the right audience and know you’re marketing to the right audience.” “You’re not simply trying to drive traffic to a website, you’re trying to drive contribution to a project, and completing that is a more difficult process than what advertisers/marketers might find in other industries,” he added. Silver-Linings to ICO Advertising Ban Mr. Finch outlined a number of positives reaped by the industry since the introduction of advertising restrictions on ICO by major social media platforms, stating that “the ban helps bring to light the more effective marketing options for these ICOs.” Mr. Finch also alluded to a likely increase in the quality of initial coin offerings owing to the advertising restrictions, stating “Those cryptocurrency/ICO websites that will survive will be the ones that actually provide value to their users, ICOs, etc. We see it as a necessary process in a maturing industry.” Mr, Finch concluded that the number of initial coin offerings has continued to grow substantially in spite of the ban stating “There were 1,848 ICOs listed last year on ICO Alert from April to December. As of today, there are 3,352 listings on our site […] We’re on pace to list over 5,000 ICOs this year.” Analysts Discuss High Rates of ICO Failure The Merkle recently published a report featuring discussion from representatives of the finance industry on the high rates of failure among initial coin offerings. Amy Wan of Sagewise argued that the high rate of failure is not unique to initial coin offerings, stating “In the U.S., more than 90 percent of startups ‘fail’ their first year. There isn’t yet enough statistical data that ICOs fail more often than startups that raise [funds] through more traditional means.“ The co-founder of Ternio, Ian Kane, has made similar assessments – concluding that although “there are a few reasons ICOs fail, […] it all boils down to lack of experience.” Mr. Kane argues that ICOs typically lack experience regarding “The industry they are targeting,” “How to effectively manage a business – hiring, finances, PR,” and “Post ICO communication.” In addition to arguing that ICOs typically lack requisite business acumen, Mr. Kane questions whether “blockchain is even needed for [the] use case” of most initial coin offerings. Lack of Business Acumen Identified as Key Deficit Among ICOs Joe DiPasquale, the CEO and co-founder of Bitbull Capital, argues that the ICO funding model inherently produces a high rate of failure through lack of barriers to entry. “Too many ICOs are launching without having a minimally viable product – or, in many cases, even a proof of concept. The simplicity of throwing together a website and launching an ERC20 token has led many projects to ICO even when failure is probable. Most other startups normally have a higher threshold of viability that must be achieved before a project can even think about seeking outside funding. This results in fewer of them failing as publicly as some of the more infamous ICOs have,” Mr. DiPasquale said. Pavel Bains, the CEO and Co-Founder of Bluzelle, echoes Mr. DiPasquale’s comments, stating “One of the most important [reasons ICOs fail] is that there’s a lower barrier to entry for raising money through an ICO than other funding options, such as venture capital [(VC)]. As a result, more untested ideas that haven’t gone through the rigorous process of assessment by experienced investment professionals get through to [the] ICO stage than with other avenues. Therefore, projects that would have been rejected by VC or angel [investors] are still able to start the ICO process, even if they then flounder as ICO investors scrutinize the detail.” Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies Investigates ICOs Colorado’s regulatory agencies have taken action against Washington-based Broad Investments LLC and California-based Linda Healthcare Corp. Colorado’s securities commissioner, Gerald Rome, has asserted that the companies are violating Colorado’s securities laws through promoting their ICOs to Colorado citizens. Both companies must now attempt to prove why that they are not in violation of the Colorado Securities Act or be required to cease and desist their respective offerings. The commissioner encouraged prospective investors to exercise caution and due diligence before entering the ICO markets. “Investment opportunities being sold through ICOs over the internet need to be approached with the same level of caution as for any highly risky investment venture. Most ICOs meet the terms of a securities transaction and carry with them all of the same risks when it comes to losing money. If you are investing money in any kind of cryptocurrency such as a coin or token where you are expecting to reap returns and are relying on those returns to come from the efforts of an outside party, you are dealing with investments,” said Commissioner Rome. “ICOs are highly risky and should only be undertaken by sophisticated investors with the understanding that they may lose most or all of their funds,” he concluded. Do you think that the ICO industry can emerge stronger after the advertising ban? Or do you think we have already passed the ICO peak? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post ICO Round-Up: Analysts Discuss Industry After Advertising Ban, Colorado Takes Action Against Offerings appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Japanese exchange Coincheck has announced partial resumption of operations with Monero. Its clients will be able to withdraw and sell XMR, but purchases are still unavailable. All previous requests for transactions have been canceled and users will have to initiate new transfers. They will be required to confirm the destination address, and state the purpose of each transaction. Also read: Coincheck Recorded Profit Despite the Hack While Victims Hit with Taxes Identity Verification Introduced Hacked Japanese exchange Coincheck has announced it is partially resuming operations with the privacy coin Monero. Withdraws and sales of XMR will be available to its users, but not purchases. According to a notice published on its website on Monday, new procedures have been introduced to ensure security for the traders. All previous requests for transactions have been canceled and users will have to initiate new transfers. They will also be required to confirm the destination address, and state the reason for each transaction in a dedicated field. The system will automatically request confirmation for the information associated with every transaction. Another security feature that has been introduced by the platform is the mandatory identity verification for users sending funds in any cryptocurrency or Japanese yen. The initial verification process may take up to several days, Coincheck informs its customers, asking for their understanding. When sending/selling XMR, traders will be prompted to confirm the information they have provided with their registration. Any change to the details has to be verified before a crypto withdrawal can be processed. A confirmation screen will be displayed during the first transaction request after the resumption of the operations with Monero. The purpose of the remittance should be stated. Price Fluctuations May Triger Suspension of Trade Coincheck warns that due to the expected traffic its clients may face difficulties when trying to connect to the platform’s servers. The exchange also notes that if the trading volume increases rapidly, or if any unforeseen problems occur, it may temporarily or even permanently suspend trading at its own discretion. The same could happen “automatically” in case of sudden price fluctuations. In the press release, Coincheck apologizes again for the suspension of its services following the attack on the platform in January. The Japanese exchange lost some ¥58 billion worth of NEM (~$550 million USD at the time) in one of the biggest hacks in crypto history. According to cybersecurity experts quoted by the Japanese press, half of the XEM coins have been laundered already on the darknet. In March, the NEM Foundation announced it would no longer track the stolen cryptos. Customers who lost funds have been compensated in yen. Implementing measures to recover from the heist, Coincheck was expected to drop three cryptocurrencies providing high levels of anonymity – Monero, Zcash, and Dash. According to sources quoted by the Japan Times, the exchange has recognized the risks associated with these coins that can potentially facilitate money laundering. It has been previously criticized by regulators for its policies allowing traders to remain anonymous. According to some recent reports, Japan’s Financial Services Agency has been urging trading platforms to delist privacy coins. Coincheck insists that it has taken adequate steps to maintain security and prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. It also says that it will resume trading gradually, giving priority to the protection of the assets of its customers. The cryptocurrency trading platform is operated by Coin Check Co., Ltd. On April 16 the company became a subsidiary of Monex Group, a large Japanese online brokerage firm. Toshihiko Katsuya, Former Chief Operating Officer of Monex Group, now serves as President and CEO of Coin Check Co. Do expect Coincheck to resume normal trading operations in the near future? Tell us in the comments sections below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock. At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more. The post Coincheck Resumes Monero Withdrawals and Sales 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. Prior to the revolution of the World Wide Web, entrepreneurs with big dreams would have to jump through hoops to secure funding from venture capitalists or bank loans, and local community projects would have to source cash donations or government backing to achieve their goals. Crowdfunding at its core means enabling anyone with a computer and an idea, to see bring it into fruition. Fundraising is a lucrative industry and now, blockchain technologies are taking the market to new heights, as well as shoring up inefficiencies and risks posed by previous models. Now, crowdfunding has gone above and beyond expectations and is an extraordinarily popular choice for entrepreneurs and investors; Online statistic, market research and intelligence portal Statista reported in 2014 that globally, crowdfunding platforms had generated 16.2 Billion USD, that number was set to double by 2015. The Problem with the Current Model More recent reports have forecast a 16.96% decline between 2017 and 2021 in the market size for crowdfunding the report says that one of the major reasons for the decline comes down to the rather tedious and painstaking task of getting several crucial points correct. According to crowdfunding site Peerbackers, projects typically miss the mark during the build-up and campaign periods of funding. Marketing, preparation, press relationships, overly ambitious funding goals and lack of project experience tend to be the causes for project failure. Many of the crowdfunding platforms also charge large fees and fail to incubate projects with effective delivery and launch systems. Further to this they tend to leave all the legwork and marketing to the project founders, which devalues the overall quality of the project. Standing out from the Crowd Now, a blockchain-based company is gearing up to address those problems and some other overlooked factors that are contributing toward the expected decline, issues like trust, failures to launch, deliver and accrue the desired funding. Acorn Collective is using the immense power of the blockchain to facilitate a more effective, accessible and successful future for crowdfunding. The collective is taking on the challenge of allowing for anyone, anywhere to launch a crowdfunding project as long as it is not illegal or malicious. This width of scope creates incredible opportunities for founders in developing countries, making the platform quite extraordinary, as it will provide a global network of incubator partners for entrepreneurs who have little-to-no experience in the field. With this model, compassionate capitalism can create incredible opportunities for would-be entrepreneurs who may never have had the chance otherwise; impoverished communities all over the world could benefit for generations to come. Blockchain: Bringing Benefits The Acorn Collective campaign module is designed to automate the tedious digital marketing campaigns; many crowdfunding projects fail because they aren’t marketed to their fullest, whilst Acorn uses data, digital marketing APIs and algorithms to improve success rates organically for businesses, and as they see it, the platform itself. By using the technology, Acorn are creating a productive cycle of increased trust and funding success by providing backers with the ability to view the milestone deployment of funds and campaign tracking. Furthermore the blockchain makes the Acorn Collective fee model absolutely minimal, removing the typical 5% fees used by other crowdfunding platforms and reducing it down to the negligible Ethereum network fees. In doing so, the Acorn platform maximises the funding the project can receive. The Acorn Collective TGE The Acorn Collective is hosting a Token Generation Event (TGE) from May 26th 2018, ending June 24th 2018, wherein the platform’s ERC20 standard OAK token, the main exchange currency within the Acorn ecosystem, will be available for purchase. The token will be used to fund projects, acquire goods and services, facilitate point-of-sale transactions and purchase additional Acorn Support Services. Blockchain technology has proven itself to be a remedy to many businesses and industry issues; whilst crowdfunding platforms and would-be founders struggle to ensure the infantile projects grow, Acorn has taken blockchain and a profoundly positive ethos to the fundraising method, to great effect. Contact Email Address info@tokensuite.io Supporting Link https://www.aco.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: Acorn Collective – How the Blockchain Is Being Blended with Crowdfunding, and Making Staggering Results appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

The main regulatory body of cryptocurrencies in South Korea has a new chief who has just been approved by the country’s president. He is a known “activist and reformist” and has reportedly announced that he will consider relaxing crypto regulations to help businesses grow in this sector. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space New FSS Chief to Relax Crypto Regulations The South Korean Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) will have a new governor as of this Tuesday. The country’s President Moon Jae-in has approved the nomination of Yoon Suk-heun to lead the government agency overseeing cryptocurrency regulations after the former FSS head Kim Ki-sik stepped down from the post. Yoon’s nomination was submitted by the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which the FSS falls under. He will officially start his work as FSS chief on May 8, the Korea Times reported, elaborating: Governor Yoon Suk-heun said the country’s top financial regulator will consider relaxing cryptocurrency regulations. He has previously “hinted at a possible adjustment of regulations that have been applied to the cryptocurrency market,” the news outlet noted, adding that Yoon is known as an “activist and reformist.” Yoon’s Approach to Crypto Yoon told reporters that “regarding cryptocurrencies, there are some positive aspects,” emphasizing that “there are a lot of issues that need to be addressed and reviewed. We can figure them out but gradually.” Yoon Suk-heun. Clarifying the roles of the FSS and the FSC, he explained that “The FSS will collaborate with the FSC when an inspection on policies and financial institutions has different configurations associated with different scopes. FSC inspects policies, while the FSS examines and supervises financial institutions but with the oversight of the FSC.” At an industry event on January 31, he expressed his understanding of the government’s position on cryptocurrencies, given their high volatility. However, he was quoted affirming that “the government is saying cryptocurrencies are neither currency nor financial assets…[that] is hard to understand,” adding: What I think is that exchanges are to function to meet the needs of investors and market participants, broadly…to help them keep trading and making transactions. Any forceful ban against them would hurt the nature of the market. Yoon also pointed out that “Regulation is good. However, it would be more than just good when it is used to help new businesses grow. Imposing taxes on crypto exchanges and investors needs to be considered, if necessary.” An official of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, Upbit, commented on Yoon’s new role, stating that “What the new FSS chief should think about is how the regulators should provide remedies to help crypto trading and blockchain technology get better.” Do you think South Korea will ease cryptocurrency regulations? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Pixabay. Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post South Korean Top Regulator Considers Easing Cryptocurrency Regulations appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Today’s edition of Bitcoin in Brief focuses on a clash between the old guard of the global economy, fearing new innovations they can’t understand, and the young entrepreneurs using them to change the world. We will also show how sometimes well-meaning regulations can backfire and hurt the lawmakers’ own goals. Also Read: Robinhood App Expands Cryptocurrency Trading to Two More US States Dinosaur Attack They say that “if you’re not catching flak you’re not over the target,” so bitcoin must be getting closer to hitting Wall Street because it has gotten a lot of flak recently. Leading the charge was 87-year-old billionaire and legendary investor, Warren Buffett. After previously saying that investing in bitcoin is nothing more than gambling, Buffett has again came out strongly against cryptocurrency at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting on Saturday, May 5th. “They’re non-productive assets. It essentially will not deliver anything other than supposed scarcity. What does it produce itself? Anytime you buy non-productive assets, you are counting on someone later on buying a non-productive asset. It does come to a bad ending; cryptocurrencies will come to a bad ending. If I could buy a five-year put on every one of the cryptocurrencies, I’d be glad to do it but I would never short a dime’s worth,” he said, concluding that bitcoin is “probably rat poison squared.” And Buffett’s long-time right-hand-man, Charlie Munger, added that trading in cryptocurrencies is “just dementia”. Musk Strikes Back Besides bashing bitcoin, Buffett has also taken a swipe at fellow billionaire Elon Musk. During the latest Tesla quarterly earnings call, Musk explained he doesn’t believe in “moats,” a term often espoused by the Oracle of Omaha. He said: “I think moats are lame. They are like nice in a sort of quaint, vestigial way. If your only defense against invading armies is a moat, you will not last long. What matters is the pace of innovation, that is the fundamental determinant of competitiveness.” Buffett didn’t like that statement and on Saturday responded by warning that Musk should stay away from his moated ventures. “I don’t think he’d want to take us on in candy,” he said, referring to Berkshire-owned See’s Candies – Buffett’s often cited example of a business with a deep moat around it. The real-life inspiration for Iron Man saw Buffett’s warning as a challenge and soon announced on Twitter he is starting a new candy company to take on Berkshire’s moat, and just to spike the ball he is going to call it “Cryptocandy”. Cryptocandy — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 5, 2018 Memo Goes Open Source The creator of Memo, an on-chain social network built on Bitcoin Cash, has announced it is getting open sourced. The developer explained the move by stating that: “Most people think that because memo is on the blockchain, it’s inherently uncensorable. Being on the blockchain does not make memo uncensorable. What will make memo uncensorable is when there are many different implementations…What really makes a social network uncensorable is for it to be decentralized. This makes the power over the network distributed between the service providers, meaning they’d have to collude to censor information…To encourage others to head in the right direction, I’ve decided to open source the entire Memo.cash codebase. My hope is that people will fork and create their own implementations, giving it the decentralization it needs to be uncensorable.” Huobi Labs’ $1 Billion Industry Fund Huobi Labs has recently announced they signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tianya Community to jointly build a “Global Cultural and Creative Blockchain Lab” in Hainan, China. Huobi China headquarters will be moved to the island, where it promises to collaborate with global industry companies and the world’s top universities to build a 40,000 square meters blockchain incubator and initiate a billion-dollar global blockchain industry fund. The development of the Hainan Special Economic Zone is a national-level strategy set by the Chinese President, Xi Jiping, and the company painted the move as part of that effort. “As a patriotic Chinese company, Huobi China will actively follow-up with the national-level strategy. In the future, Huobi will use Huobi Group’s technology, resources, talents, and capital advantages in the global blockchain industry to contribute to the development of Hainan Special Economic Zone and explore the construction of an international free trade port.” EU Regulations Kill Cointouch P2P Exchange Cointouch was a website that helped users find friends of friends that trade cryptocurrency using their social network connections loaded from Facebook and Google, allowing exchange-like functionality with peer-to-peer trading. It was recently shut down after four years in operation due to a new EU dictate called the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which is meant to bring a new set of “digital rights” for EU citizens and guard them from predatory data companies like Cambridge Analytica. Developer Chris Beach explained: “GDPR threatens website owners with fines of 4% of turnover or €20 million (whichever is higher) if they do not jump through a number of ambiguously-defined hoops…I concluded that I cannot justify running a free service while taking on a legal risk. So, perversely, this new EU law hurts small website like mine, but helps reinforce the dominance of Facebook, Google and Twitter, who are able to prepare and defend themselves using established legal teams and cash reserves, and who now face less competition from startups. The EU Cookie Law, EU VAT regulation, and now the EU GDPR are all examples of poorly-implemented laws that add complexity and unintended side-effects for businesses within the EU.” Who will be proven right in the long term, Musk or Buffett? Share your thoughts 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 Bitcoin in Brief Monday: Elon Musk Takes on Bitcoin-Bashing Warren Buffett appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

On April 26, 2018, the Bitcoin ABC development team were notified of a critical issue that applies to Bitcoin Cash miners who were utilizing the Bitcoin-ABC 0.17.0 client. After analyzing the vulnerability ABC developers created a patch and distributed the new ABC client 0.17.1 and released the software to BCH mining pools. Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space Bitcoin ABC Developers Address a Vulnerability Found in the Client Version 0.17.0 Just recently the Bitcoin ABC development team were notified of a vulnerability in the ABC 0.17.0 client by an unknown person(s). According to developers, the flaw could have caused an unintended split in the Bitcoin Cash network. Reports detail that an attacker could construct a malicious transaction that would be accepted by Bitcoin-ABC 0.17.0 miners. However, the block would be rejected by the rest of the compatible versions of Bitcoin Cash-compatible mining applications like the Bitcoin Unlimited client. “BUCash and versions of Bitcoin-ABC prior to 0.17.0 could be split from the majority Bitcoin Cash blockchain — Only Bitcoin ABC and BUCash nodes were included in the analysis of this vulnerability,” the development team details. After some testing and analysis of the vulnerability, the Bitcoin ABC development team crafted a patch for the issue immediately. “Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 fixes this problem,” explains the ABC teams incident report and the new software was forwarded to verified BCH miners. The Lead Developer of the Bitcoin.com’s Mining Pool, Shaun Chong, explained that after the vulnerability report was released the ABC development team was very quick to assess and fix the problem. “Bitcoin ABC dealt with the situation professionally and responsibly — They were quick to patch the bug and distribute it privately to miners, hence reducing the risk of a chain split”, Shaun Chong said. Bitcoin.com Pool mines blocks with Bitcoin Unlimited, and encourages the development of multiple Bitcoin Cash full node implementations, to keep the Bitcoin cash network resistant to bugs from a single implementation. – Shaung Chong, Bitcoin.com Pool. All BCH 0.17.0 Clients Need to Upgrade ASAP The Bitcoin ABC programmers are asking all 0.17.0 users to upgrade to the latest 0.17.1 client as soon as possible. The team reveals that it will be taking “several actions” in the future to prevent events like this from occurring again and mitigate response times even faster. “Bitcoin ABC is in discussions with industry participants to establish a formal bug bounty system,” the team emphasizes. ABC developers say they would like to thank the anonymous person(s) who responsibly disclosed the issue to the development team. The report provided was “clear and professional” according to the developers. “We also want to thank the miners for their cooperation, understanding and for the fast and professional way in which they took action to protect the Bitcoin Cash network and its users,” the Bitcoin ABC developers conclude. Download the latest Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 version here. Images via Shutterstock and Bitcoin ABC. Do you think this is the last vulnerability that will be found in Bitcoin ABC:s implementation? How do you feel about open-source software? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! The post Bitcoin ABC Developers Address a Vulnerability Found 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. This Press Release contains information regarding the response to a critical vulnerability applicable to miners of Bitcoin Cash using Bitcoin-ABC version 0.17.0. Appropriate action has been taken to mitigate the impact of this vulnerability. This release is provided for information purposes only. Bitcoin ABC 0.17.1 fixes this problem. On April 26, 2018, Bitcoin-ABC developers were notified by unknown person(s) of the vulnerability. If exploited the flaw would have caused an unintended split in the Bitcoin Cash network. An attacker could have constructed a malicious transaction which would be accepted by Bitcoin-ABC 0.17.0 and mined into a block. This block would be rejected by all other versions of Bitcoin Cash compliant implementations. The malicious transaction would contain the bitflag of 0x20 set in the signature hash type. BUCash (Bitcoin Unlimited) and versions of Bitcoin-ABC prior to 0.17.0 could have been split from the majority Bitcoin Cash blockchain. Only Bitcoin ABC and BUCash nodes were included in the analysis of this vulnerability. After analysis of the vulnerability and possible responses, Bitcoin-ABC developers prepared a patch for the vulnerability, and a private release, to distribute directly to mining pool operators. Due to the decentralized nature of the mining community it was not possible to reach everyone directly. This private release was provided to verified Bitcoin Cash miners to forward to trusted miners once they had upgraded. We advise any Bitcoin ABC 0.17.0 users to upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible. Bitcoin ABC will be taking several actions in order to prevent such an event from occuring again, as well as reduce the overall response time in the case of emergent issues in the future. Additionally, Bitcoin ABC is in discussions with industry participants to establish a formal bug bounty system. Bitcoin ABC wants to thank the person(s) who disclosed this vulnerability responsibly. They provided a clear and professional report. If they are willing to come forward, we would like to ensure they receive a reward. We also want to thank the miners for their cooperation, understanding, and for the fast and professional way in which they took action to protect the Bitcoin Cash network and its users. Supporting Link https://www.bitcoinabc.org/ Contact Email Address info@bitcoinabc.org 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: Bitcoin ABC releases vulnerability fix for Bitcoin Cash appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A luxury hotel, offering breathtaking views of Caracas and the Caribbean coast, will be accepting payments in Petro, Venezuela’s national cryptocurrency. According to President Maduro, the renovated Humboldt hotel is going to be the first seven-star property in his crisis-stricken Bolivarian Republic. Also read: Venezuela’s President Launches Crypto Funded Youth Bank, Encourages Mining Farms Luxury Priced in Petro The Humboldt hotel is a landmark of Caracas, and is considered among the most interesting examples of XX century urban architecture. It’s located in the Waraira Repano National Park, between the capital and the Caribbean coastline of Venezuela. The 19-story tower, built in the Avila mountain at 2,140 meters above sea level, offers a 360 view stretching to the horizon. Glass and aluminum cover the facade of the hotel which has 70 luxurious rooms and suits. Social areas, conference rooms, an indoor pool, and a cable car will also be available to guests who can pay for them in Petro. The hotel, which was built in 1956 on the initiative of the Venezuelan dictator Marcos Jiménez, was meant to be a part of the tourist and recreational complex connecting Caracas with its coastal area. At the time, Humboldt met the highest world standards in the hospitality industry. It had several first class restaurants, a disco with rotating dance floor, and even an ice rink. The hotel was closed, however, after Jiménez’s resignation in 1958 as a “symbol of the dictatorship”. In 1991 it opened doors thanks to an Italian investor, but in 2007 Hugo Chávez’s government nationalized it and closed it again. President Nicolás Maduro, who took part in the latest reopening of Humboldt, claims it will be the first seven-star hotel in his troubled South American country. Moreover, it will also be accepting payments in Petro. The oil-backed crypto was introduced by his administration as an alternative to the country’s fiat, the bolivar, after inflation exceeded 2,600% last year. Services and extras at Humboldt will be priced in the state-issued cryptocurrency. According to the local newspaper Universal, visitors will be able to buy Petro from an exchange bureau in the hotel, renovated and operated by Marriott. During a tour of the hotel facilities, President Maduro said: “All hotels in the country are authorized to charge in convertible currencies. But this hotel, Humboldt, is going to be a model, a pilot, with all services charged in Petros, so that it produces convertible wealth for our country,” he explained, quoted by Noticia Al Dia. Crypto Exchange Points across Venezuela Maduro also posted on Twitter images and video of his visit to the hotel saying, “We want the Humboldt hotel to become a model for the application of the Petro.” The president added that, “Tourism, sooner rather than later, should become the second largest collector of international wealth”. The socialist leader believes that the tourism industry can be a locomotive for the Venezuelan economy and help pull the country out of the severe economic crisis. “We are giving national tourism an architectural jewel,” Maduro said during the opening ceremony on Friday, which was broadcasted by VTV. The Venezuelan president also announced that soon a number of crypto exchange points will be opened across the country. He was reluctant to reveal too many details but noted that the project will be implemented in partnership between the Ministry of Tourism and large Venezuelan companies. Some have questioned the promised seven-star rating of the renovated Humboldt hotel. While no universal international standard has been adopted yet, the five-star system is widely used around the world, with variations in the criteria for each level. Most luxury hotels are usually advertised as five-star venues. There are a few, though, that have claimed a higher rating. A notable mention in that respect is the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai offering a butler for every room and the world’s highest staff-to-suite ratio of 8 to 1. The property is the first to be widely referred to as a seven-star hotel. Have you paid for hotel accommodation in cryptocurrency? Let us know in the comments section below. Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Twitter (Nicolás Maduro). 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 Sole Seven-Star Hotel in Venezuela to Accept Petro appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

A utility provider in Washington has ramped up security measures in anticipation of backlash in response to a moratorium recently placed on cryptocurrency miners by the company. Despite the measures, the company has not experienced a single incident requiring police assistance. Also Read: Ripple Sued for Alleged Violations of US Securities Laws Washington Utility Fears Backlash From Disconnected Crypto Miners Chelan County Power Utility District (PUD) of north-central Washington has enacted heightened security measures including “bulletproof panels and security cameras at PUD headquarters” according to local media. Reports are attributing the increased security precautions to concerns of retaliation from “two cryptocurrency-related groups — unauthorized miners whose power has been disconnected and high-density load service applicants denied because of the current moratorium.” In March, Chelan County PUD’s commissioners launched “an emergency moratorium on new high-density load hookups to give staff time to develop a plan for dealing with the demand for electricity from digital currency miners.” Emotions “Running High” Chelan County PUD spokeswoman, Kimberlee Craig, has stated that “PUD employees in the field and those in the office who are handling issues related to high-density load service have encountered an increasing number of upset customers and potential customers. In some cases, people can get agitated and argumentative. Our goal always is to provide excellent customer service, as well as to keep customers, the public and employees safe, especially when emotions may be running high.” Despite the increased security measures, Mrs. Craig indicated that none of the incidents have escalated to the point of requiring assistance from law enforcement. “The volume of requests and the sense of urgency by applicants has changed the dynamics of the interaction by staff with the cryptocurrency customers,” she added. Unauthorized Mining Operations Proliferate Despite Moratorium Chelan County PUD has indicated that when the moratorium was called, it had “22 approved high-density load customers using a total of about 13.5 megawatts; 19 pending applications for 16.3 megawatts; and had identified 28 unauthorized operations, with a watchlist of 12 and growing. Of the 28, 19 were shut down.” Since taking action, the PUD’s staff has reportedly identified “three more unauthorized operations each week.” The company has expressed concerns about “unauthorized bitcoin operators overloading the system, creating fire hazards and damaging power grid infrastructure.” Amnesty Period for Unauthorized Mining Operations During April, the company brought forward a number of measures designed to curb the power consumed by miners, including facilitating the immediate disconnection power, and the introduction of fees — up to $6,150 for in-home cryptocurrency operations and $11,400 for those in commercial or light industrial space — for those who violate the company’s policy. The measures have included “an amnesty period for unauthorized Bitcoin miners not yet identified by the PUD,” during which unauthorized miners must shut down immediately and notify the PUD in order to qualify for amnesty. The amnesty period will be in place until May 14 – at which point commissioners conduct a public hearing regarding whether the company should continue to maintain the moratorium. Do you think that Chelan County PUD’s heightened security measures are an over reaction? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, chelanpud.org Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Washington Utility Increases Security Amid Crypto Mining Moratorium appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article

Chinese state media outlet, Voice of China, has published reports criticizing the efforts of Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges and initial coin offerings (ICOs) to continue operations in spite of the central government’s 2017 crackdown. Also Read: Markets Update: BTC Resistance at $10,000 Holds, Gains Dwarfed by Alternative Markets State Media Criticizes Cryptocurrency Exchanges’ Defiance of Crackdown Voice of China’s reports state that “On September 2017, seven ministries and commissions of the Central Bank issued the ‘Announcement on Preventing the Risk of Issuance of Coinage Offerings’, requiring that any institution not engage in the interaction between legal currency, tokens, and ‘virtual currency’.” One of the reports states that despite the official ban, companies operating in the cryptocurrency sector sought “to take advantage of the rising tide of rising bitcoin prices,” and alleges that many of China’s cryptocurrency exchange “platforms immediately set up overseas websites and continue to provide digital currency services to mainland users as overseas companies.” Voice of China Targets Okex The Voice of China reports pays considerable attention to Okex, accusing the company of using shell companies to obfuscate its Chinese operations, in addition to offering unlicensed securities. The report states that “After the national ban was issued, OKCoin transferred all user data and digital currency to the OKEx Exchange, which was established outside China.” Voice of China also quote an Okex customer who believes that the company “is only nominally moving the company overseas, claiming to be headquartered in Belize, and the team is Hong Kong, but in fact, still operates the entire company in Beijing, and the users are almost all Chinese.” State Media Claims Number of Chinese ICOs Increasing Despite Ban Voice of China also published a report focusing on initial coin offerings that accuses many Chinese ICOs of operating in clear defiance of the central government’s directives. The report states that the September document issued by various Chinese government institutions declared the “issuance of tokens is essentially an unauthorized and illegal public financing.” The document accused many ICOs of violating financial laws through “illegally issuing tokens, [the] illegal distribution of securities, and illegal fundraising,” in addition to “Financial fraud, pyramid schemes and other illegal and criminal activities.” Professor Criticizes “One Size Fits All” Cryptocurrency Regulations Despite the critical description of ICOs, the report quotes Deng Jianpeng, a professor at The Law School of the Central University for Nationalities who is purported to possess extensive experience in observing and analyzing cryptocurrencies. Mr. Jianpeng advocates for a dynamic, global. and flexible regulatory apparatus that caters to the fostering of innovation, and criticizes “one size fits all” and prohibitive legislative proposals regarding cryptocurrencies. According to a rough translation, Deng Jianpeng stated: “digital currency has a very typical global character, resulting in a simple prohibition of no effect in the physical space. Therefore, if we think about fine-tuning the regulatory rules, it is absolutely not allowed to do public offerings. Fraud is absolutely necessary to crack down on criminal law, but if it is private equity is also true entrepreneurship. Is it possible to have some special channels, such as approval by a specific agency, to avoid the embarrassing situation of supervision? This thing is worth rethinking.” Do you think that China will be able to crackdown on the continued operation of cryptocurrency platforms that are based offshore yet target Chinese investors? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Okex Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section. The post Chinese State Media Accuses ICOs and Exchanges of Defying Crackdown appeared first on Bitcoin News. View the full article