Day: July 28, 2017

We have seen multiple altcoins trying to improve upon the Bitcoin protocol. Some coins even use the Bitcoin name in an effort to ride the coattails of the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Plus and BitcoinDark are just two examples of currencies trying to hijack the Bitcoin name for their own benefit. It now seems Ethereum may see a similar problem, as a new project called Ethereum Plus was announced recently.

Why Would Ethereum Plus Even Matter?

So far, there are two legitimate currencies using the Ethereum name. There is the Ethereum currency, which is well-known among cryptocurrency enthusiasts. There is also Ethereum Classic, which came to be after the Ethereum developers decided to bail out DAO investors and enforce a transaction rollback in the form of a hard fork. That decision caused an ideological split between community members and ultimately resulted in two different currencies.

If it were up to the Ethereum Plus team, they would create a third currency using the Ethereum name in the near future. The team feels there are plenty of reasons to create yet another version of Ethereum which is very different from the two existing blockchains already. It would inherit all of the existing sophisticated blockchain methodology, which in itself does not warrant creating a new currency. Ethereum Plus seems to offer nothing new at first glance.

One thing that is quite different is how there would be no Ethereum Plus Foundation. Even though the Ethereum Foundation does not do much wrong these days, the ETHP team feels the Foundation is responsible for determining the coin cap. However, Ethereum has no supply cap in its current form. Even after the switch to proof of stake, the currency will remain inflationary for quite some time to come. It seems Ethereum Plus will have a total supply of 10 million tokens, which is very low compared to Ethereum.

The roadmap for Ethereum Plus also involves the creation of a new brand of smart contracts. The project wants to make this technology more appealing to the average person. It still uses the same technology of Ethereum smart contracts, but Ethereum Plus provides a convenient interface to put together these contracts as needed. In doing so, the team feels it will be providing a “plug-and-play” smart contract solution. Templates will be created to facilitate this switch.

That is the only remarkable difference Ethereum Plus seems to be offering from Ethereum, which does not necessarily warrant a lot of attention. It is even more ludicrous to think this project will raise US$50 million through its ICO, especially considering that anyone can make existing smart contract technology more accessible to everyday users without creating a new ERC20 token. The price per token is locked at US$5 per ETHP. Time will tell if it is worth the money, as we try to keep an open mind toward any new project. 

Having said that, there is no reason for Ethereum Plus to even exist in its current form. While it is true Ethereum has some flaws to take into account, Ethereum Plus is not necessarily addressing any of them other than the supply cap issue. Its team seeks to capitalize on the Ethereum name and raise a lot of money in the process. The team also claims they will provide instant transactions, although it remains to be seen how that will work. Tokens are issued on the Ethereum blockchain, which does not offer instant transactions.

As the number of Bitcoin-related ransomware grows, how can the average Joe protect himself from such cyber threats?

Price analysis on BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, ETC, June 28

What the leading legal experts are saying about the latest SEC weigh in on ICOs.

ICOs have received an unexpected backing from one of the world’s richest sports stars, boxer Floyd Mayweather.

With the Bitcoin Cash hard fork looming on August 1st, lots of users will be looking for ways to move their funds off exchange platforms. This also means they will be looking for secure solutions that put them in full control over their money. Luckily, there are plenty of Bitcoin wallets which do that. Below are some examples of Bitcoin wallets that will keep your funds safe and in your full control at all times.

4. Airbitz

Even though the Airbitz wallet has been around for some time now, it still appears this solution is vastly underappreciated. Airbitz is one of those software wallets for mobile users which puts the user in full control of his or her private keys. Although one might assume their key would be controlled by the company, it is created and stored on the mobile device only. Moreover, if the Airbitz servers were to go down, one could still access funds by exporting the private key. It is a very convenient solution, especially for those who do not wish to use a desktop wallet.

3. Exodus

People who prefer a desktop solution have many different options. One such wallet is Exodus, which is available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows. It is an SPV wallet, which means there is no need to synchronize with the blockchain by downloading it to a hard drive. Users can fire up the wallet and be connected to the Bitcoin network in mere seconds, which is how any wallet should work.

Generating an Exodus wallet and its associated private keys involves your computer only, without any information being sent to third parties. Users can also access their private keys through the Developer menu if they prefer to do so. Exodus is a convenient wallet solution which gets a lot of praise from the Bitcoin and altcoin communities. Even though the wallet has a built-in backup feature, it only reads transaction data which is later on encrypted. In fact, any Exodus backup is pretty much useless to anyone else.

2. Electrum

Another “light” Bitcoin wallet that users should consider is the Electrum project. The wallet focuses on speed and using as few resources as possible. The private key associated with your addresses is never communicated to any of the project’s servers. Users generate a wallet by using a mnemonic seed, removing the need for traditional passwords. This seed has the same level of security as any Bitcoin private key.

One of the main reasons why so many people like Electrum is because it works across different platforms. Electrum works on Linux, Windows, OSX and Android. Additionally, it provides two-factor authentication, cold storage, and multisignature storage solutions. There is no reason not to like Electrum.

1. Bitcoin Core / Bitcoin ABC

The best solution — other than hardware wallets — is the native client designed by the developers responsible for maintaining the version of Bitcoin you care about the most. For a lot of people, that means the Bitcoin Core wallet is their preferred choice even though it requires downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin Cash users may want to check out the Bitcoin ABC client, although it is unclear if there are any lingering bugs. Native desktop clients put users in full control at all times, making them a perfect solution to maintaining one’s Bitcoin wealth.

With its reign over the world of digital currency, many believe that a new decentralized Internet can be formed with Ethereum.

Washington State legislators have started the implementation of new regulations covering digital currency exchanges adopted on July 23, 2017.

Venture-backed blockchain startup Bitfury is seeking a patent related to electronics design, public documents reveal.

Source

SegWit was held up by miners “throwing a tantrum,” BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen has said in a panel.

Not too long ago, we touched on the need for internet users to avoid bad passwords. People commonly reuse their passwords across many different platforms. This is a huge problem because it makes it easier for criminals to hack those individuals’ accounts. It now appears darknet users fall victim to the same issue, which recently allowed Dutch police officers to use Hansa market data to crack down on other vendors.

Darknet Vendors Reuse Passwords as Well

It is disconcerting to see how careless some internet users are with their passwords. It has become significantly easier to create strong and unique passwords for every site one uses without he or she having to remember them all. Password managers are a must-have these days for anyone who accesses the Internet on a regular basis. There is absolutely no reason to reuse the same password multiple times.

Dutch police officials were surprised to learn that darknet users have a habit of reusing passwords as well. They obtained extensive information from the Hansa marketplace, which they infiltrated and operated for a full month before shutting it down. This means law enforcement officials are now looking to crack down on as many darknet vendors as possible. That task has become a lot easier than originally anticipated.

The login credentials and passwords confiscated from Hansa can also be used on other darknet marketplaces. A lot of vendors use the same names and passwords for markets such as Dream, for example. After AlphaBay and Hansa were shut down, many vendors sought refuge on Dream, but that also may be coming to an end pretty soon. Law enforcement agencies have declared war on the darknet and they will not relent anytime soon.

Any vendor not using 2FA on Dream and using the same password as on Hansa will have their account compromised. All of these credentials are now actively monitored and used by the Dutch Police in the hopes of cracking down on other vendors and even customers on the darknet. So far, at least 14 different vendor accounts have been compromised, although more will follow over the coming days and weeks. Reusing passwords is a foolish move for anyone, even if you’re a notorious drug dealer on the darknet.

As it turns out, password reuse is not the only pressing concern for darknet vendors. It appears police officials have gotten their hands on locktime files, which are used as an authentication method by which vendors request Bitcoin funds are released. It appears some of these locktime files were replaced with Excel sheets containing a hidden image. Any vendor opening the Excel file would then log the user’s IP address. It is possible dozens of Hansa vendors suffered from this “attack” without even knowing it.

Europol is still processing all of the information gathered from the Hansa marketplace as we speak. It is believed the agency received around 10,000 addresses of buyers and vendors to investigate. With Dutch Police officials now going after Dream vendors as well, things will get very interesting over the next few weeks. Anyone using the darknet needs to be very cautious, unless they have nothing to hide.

Oklahoma will debut on the Bitcoin ATM scene as Coinsource installs the state’s first machine in Oklahoma City.