Day: July 16, 2017

The number of former bankers entering the digital currency marketplace in one form or another keeps growing.

This week we reported on upcoming events that might be taking place on August 1, concerning potential interruptions connecting to the Bitcoin network. Now the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association made up of various regional exchanges is preparing to draft service suspension directives for bitcoin users in the country for that specific date.

Also read: Mining, Merchants, and Traders—Thailand’s Got the Bitcoin Fever

Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association Considers Guidelines for August 1

Japan has had bitcoin fever over the past few months. Since this past April interest in the decentralized currency has grown quite a bit since the Japanese government legalized bitcoin as a form of payment. Now as the country continues to progress in adoption a possible blockchain split may happen in two weeks, and Japanese bitcoin businesses want to be prepared.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association (JCBA) is currently deliberating guidelines for a one day to one week “freeze on bitcoin transactions.” The JCBA organization says it aims to “actively investigate and research necessary information, consolidate knowledge and exchange opinions, and aim for sound industry development” in Japan. As far as August 1 is concerned, the association made up of fourteen regional cryptocurrency exchanges says it wants to “protect customer assets.”

Japanese Exchanges Detail Suspensions and Decision Announcements

The publication also details the trading platform Bitflyer is still undecided on its decision but will release an announcement next week. The Japanese exchanges Bitbank and Tech Bureau has detailed trading will be allowed, but deposits and withdrawals will be suspended until the possibility of a fork is resolved.

The statement from the JCBA and a few Japanese exchanges follows the announcement from the GDAX exchange on July 13. The exchange announced the suspension of deposits and withdrawals on August 1 and the possibility of halting trades as well. GDAX executive Adam White says the decision was based on technical risks and the possibility of “network instability.”

Masayuki Tashiro, a data analyst at the Japanese trading platform Fisco, says the chance of instability could make some transaction records inaccurate.

If there really is a fork, some transaction records could disappear

There’s still a possibility that nothing happens on August 1 and the industry is just playing it safe as they did this past March. This weekend the code for Segwit2x will be delivered and Segwit activation could happen, which might stop the potential August 1 fork. The JCBA is just following protocol, and other exchanges will likely do so leading up to the next two weeks in order to protect their businesses from legal repercussions.

What do you think about Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association drafting August 1 guidelines? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Pixabay, Bitcoin.com, Japan Cryptocurrency Business Association. 

Do you want to vote on important Bitcoin issues? Bitcoin.com has acquired Bitcoinocracy, and rebranded the project to Vote.bitcoin.com. Users simply sign a statement with a non-empty Bitcoin address and express their opinions. The project focuses on determining truth backed by monetary value and transparency.

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It is a very rough weekend for cryptocurrency holders, as is to be expected. With the value of Bitcoin going down even further, most other altcoins see similar losses. We also saw both Dash and NEM suffer from their market cap going below US$1bn. Moreover, the total cryptocurrency market cap continues to drop and is on target to go below US$60bn in the coming days.

The Cryptocurrency Downtrend Continues Unabated

Do not be mistaken in thinking we like to report on massive losses in the cryptocurrency world. At the same time, there is no reason to ignore the obvious facts staring us in the face right now either. Cryptocurrency is not in the best of places and the overall downtrend is not over just yet, by the look of things. Bitcoin has dipped below US$2,000, as we predicted in yesterday’s article. We wouldn’t have minded being wrong in that assumption, though.

Looking at the current price, Bitcoin is holding its own around the US$1,900 level. That doesn’t automatically mean the price won’t go below that target, though. Rumors and speculation on Telegram hints at how BTC may even hit US$1,400, although that may be wishful thinking at best. There are plenty of people who wouldn’t mind buying some additional bitcoins while they remain cheap. Now is a good price to buy Bitcoin, assuming you expect the value to bounce back over time.

Other currencies are not doing much better either. If the Bitcoin price goes down, the rest of the ecosystem will automatically follow. It is one of those unwritten rules in the world of cryptocurrency. Ethereum lost another 24%, with Ripple putting up similar numbers. Litecoin “only” lost 4% – which is quite remarkable – whereas Ethereum Classic dropped 13.3%. It is quite interesting taking note of these different percentages, even though the overall trend is anything but positive.

As is to be expected, there is always one currency to buck this trend. On this Sunday, that coin is none other than IOTA. Given the recent beating IOTA has taken across the exchanges prior to this Bitcoin drop, the reverse trend is quite intriguing to take note of. Whether or not this momentum can be maintained for the long run, remains to be seen. Most currencies are noting losses of well over 12%, which is quite a bit higher than Bitcoin’s 7% loss. All things considered, Bitcoin is still in a better position than most other currencies, with the exception of Litecoin.

The bigger question is why this extended downtrend is taking place right now. The upcoming SegWit2x and UASF activation certainly cause a lot of fear among novice users. Moreover, it appears some exchanges will halt Bitcoin deposits and withdrawals during that period. That is not uncommon by any means, as the risk of a chain split is very real. Halting trading at such a critical point in history is the best course of action and shouldn’t be any cause for concern whatsoever.

If the cryptocurrency market cap continues to shrink at the same rate, we will go below US$60bn very soon. Right now, the total cap is just below US$64bn, which is well below the US$110bn mark we reached a few weeks ago. A correction was bound to happen sooner or later, though. We have seen a lot of money pour into cryptocurrency as of late. Such a massive trend can’t be sustained indefinitely. The markets will bounce back eventually, though, and now is a good time to hold and not look at charts until early August.

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The post The Litecoin Core Client Still Doesn’t Create SegWit Transactions By Default appeared first on NEWSBTC.

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A Twitter user named LaurentMT has been battling his very own “Moby Dick.” He implied the White Whale has come in the form of a spam attack on the network, which has caused blocks to consume too many utxos (unspent transaction outputs) in the system in recent weeks. The user commented on Twitter in a series of charts, primarily containing information on block size and utxos. 

Also read: Morgan Stanley Believes Bitcoin Acceptance is Shrinking

Most interestingly, LaurentMT suggested recent mempool backlog — causing slow transaction times and higher fees — has been a result of this Moby Dick spam attack. For anyone curious about utxo’s, they are merely unspent bitcoins that can potentially eat up block space and clog the network.

More importantly, we can also observe that Moby Dick's activity has coincided with a mempool backlog lasting several months in 2016. pic.twitter.com/3l8nPKRrE3

— LaurentMT (@LaurentMT) July 14, 2017

We can observe that Moby Dick has been active during 18 months (until January 2017). pic.twitter.com/Ko0E1uGfPe

— LaurentMT (@LaurentMT) July 14, 2017

LaurentMT Tweeted the attack on the network has been in effect for 18 months, until Janurary 2017. He went on to say spamming the network with fan-out transactions is a multi-stage operation, and people generally only notice the first stage and then forget an attack was under way. Laurent mentioned these type of attacks are insidious and can last months or years without anyone knowing.

Information on Alleged Conspiracy Theory to Spam the Network

Lauren’tMT isn’t the only individual to suggest the network has been attacked. Ian Freeman of Freetalk Live wrote an article celebrating reduced fees on the bitcoin network.

However, he mentioned the network could have been backlogged as a result of a possible network spam attack. He said this kind of thinking obviously leads into conspiracy theory territory, but the halted attack does coincide with agreements for activating Segwit, especially the “New York Agreement” or Segwit2x.

Ian said, “Some have suggested that the Bitcoin network was being spammed with junk transactions and that whoever was spamming it, ceased after the agreement was put in place. That’s obviously speculation, but if it’s true, then who was doing the spamming? Was it the people supporting small blocks? The people supporting large blocks? Both of them?”

No one really knows for sure if the network was being spammed. But LaurentMT’s accumulated evidence gives people pause to consider the network may have been dealing with the White Whale for some time. LaurentMT called for more research to discover the truth.

Do you believe the network has had to deal with a White Whale (spam) attack on the network? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock 

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