Day: August 12, 2017

Key Points Bitcoin price rocketed higher above the $4000 level for a new high at $4098 against the US Dollar. There was a break above a crucial contracting and ascending triangle at $3765 on the 4-hours chart of BTC/USD (data feed from SimpleFX). Buying on dips towards the $3850 remain a good idea in the … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Weekly Analysis – BTC/USD In Monstrous Uptrend

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Key Highlights ETH price remained elevated above $280 against the US Dollar, but currently under pressure due to Bitcoin price rise. There was a break below a major bullish trend line with support at $303.50 on the 4-hours chart of ETH/USD (data feed via SimpleFX). The pair is currently under pressure and may struggle to … Continue reading Ethereum Price Weekly Analysis – ETH/USD Pressured By Bitcoin

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Privacy and security have become a rarity in the recent times as users of the internet, and other online applications are under constant threat of being compromised by the hackers or eavesdropped by government agencies. Many times hackers have made use of illegally gotten private information to compromise computers, emails, social media, bank accounts and … Continue reading Obsidian Blockchain Messaging Platform Promotes Privacy and Secrecy

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It looks as if Bitcoin users will soon be able to experiment with the Lightning Network. Zap, an LN-compatible Bitcoin wallet, announced its beta release not too long ago. This is a major development as far as Bitcoin scaling and improving transaction throughput are concerned. With SegWit activating in the near future, Zap comes at … Continue reading Lightning Network-capable Bitcoin Wallet Zap Will go in Public Beta Next Week

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XinFin, the Ethereum driven permissioned Blockchain network has announced the successful completion of its Africa awareness drive. Held across three nations — Botswana, Zambia, and Kenya, the drive was focused on familiarizing buyers, sellers, and financiers to the new TradeFinex platform. The awareness drive and the following announcement about the launch of Internet of Things … Continue reading XinFin Introduces TradeFinex in Africa, Will Announce ICO Soon

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It looks like we have another interesting plot twist in the world of Bitcoin. A fake Twitter account claiming to be Craig Wright has been officially suspended by the social media company. Many people are confused about this, even though it isn’t his real account. It is unclear why the @realcraigwright handle is suspended from … Continue reading Fake Craig Wright Twitter Account has Been Suspended all of a Sudden

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Few people will be surprised to learn most of China’s instant messaging services are currently under investigation. The government is investigating these social media networks for potential violations of the country’s cyber security law. The platforms affected include Weibo, WeChat, and Baidu, all three of which serve millions of users every single day. According to China’s Cyberspace Administration, all three platforms were used to spread obscenities and terror-related content.

Chinese Social Media Scrutinized

It is an open secret that the Chinese government does not like the local social media platforms. Social media would prevent censorship, were they not controlled by the government. Bypassing the Great Firewall of China is still very difficult, even though users have found some solutions every now and again. It appears some of these so-called breaches of conduct worry the Chinese Cyberspace Administration, as it has launched an investigation against Baidu, WeChat, and Weibo.

According to the information disclosed so far, all three companies are in violation of the country’s cyber security laws. Users were found to have distributed obscenities and terror-related material to the rest of the community. That is not allowed in the country, especially considering how tight a grip the state seeks to impose on social media. It is obvious the government has been successfully monitoring all of these networks for any activity that it considers out of line.

In a country where internet content is censored and access is routinely blocked, slipping through such disallowed content can have major repercussions. Various internet users across all three platforms have been accused of spreading violence, terror, pornography, and false rumors, among other things. Baidu already responded by stating it regretted the activity and intended to cooperate with government departments to bring this to an end. It also vowed to improve upon the intensity of auditing the platform moving forward.

This is yet another step by the Chinese government to keep social media on a very short leash. Considering that all three affected platforms serve hundreds of millions of users combined, they hold a powerful position within the country. Cooperating with government agencies is still in their best interest to avoid any major repercussions. Tencent, the parent company of both WeChat and Weibo, has yet to officially acknowledge the investigation and issue an official statement.

The bigger question is how this tight surveillance and censorship affects Chinese social media platforms as a whole. Most people know what they should and shouldn’t talk about to avoid trouble. However, dissent is very much present across all of these problems, and there is no way the government is capable of stopping all such communication. All it can hope to do is act after an incident has occurred, which puts them at a major disadvantage.

Though it does not appear that any users will be arrested in this case, China takes such violations of regulations quite seriously and would not hesitate to punish violators accordingly. Putting all three major social media platforms under official investigation will make them less appealing to the masses. As these companies continue to monitor content and provide information to police, censorship will seemingly be enforced once again.

China is already one of the most restrictive countries when it comes to internet freedom. Incidents like this one demonstrate that people wish to share a lot of information which is not officially allowed by the government. Censoring people even further will only make things worse over time. Considering how non-Chinese social media platforms are mostly blocked right now, Chinese internet users have few options at their disposal when it comes to social media in general. Rest assured that this is not the last time we will hear about social media censorship involving China.

The NotPetya ransomware attack has caused damages on a global scale. No country was more affected than Ukraine, which is home to many ransomware types discovered throughout 2017. Local police officials have arrested a 51-year old man on suspicion of spreading the ransomware known as NotPetya. Although the arrest took place nearly a week ago, the news has only now been made official. It will be interesting to see what kind of evidence the police have against this man.

Sergey Neverov Arrested in Ukraine

NotPetya has become one of the more famous ransomewares of 2017. There have been many different ransomware outbreaks over the past few months, some of which have proven to be more destructive than ever before. NotPetya has mainly targeted consumers and businesses in Ukraine and caused a lot of damage in the process. It now appears this malware was distributed in an effort to evade taxes.

The arrest of a 51-year-old man residing in Nikopol has caused another wave of speculation regarding the NotPetya ransomware. According to police officials, this person successfully distributed a Petya ransomware variant known as NotPetya. This version of the malware was uploaded to a file-sharing server and a download link was distributed through social media channels. It is unclear which platforms were used, but the widespread damage NotPetya has caused speaks for itself.

We now know NotPetya to be one of three ransomware strains successfully distributed through M.E.Doc download servers. The company responsible for developing the program and maintaining its servers is currently in the process of dealing with a civil lawsuit. It appears this 51-year old man created videos involving NotPetya ransomware which were distributed to various local businesses. The video promised business owners they would receive a tax reporting delay from Ukrainian tax authorities by downloading the updated software.

According to local newspaper Strana, the identity of the arrested individual is Sergey Neverov. That is not a notorious name across law enforcement agencies. Neverov is portrayed as an IT enthusiast who somehow got involved with distributing NotPetya. Most of his instructional videos can still be found on YouTube, which does indicate that he had an elaborate plan in place to make a lot of money from this project. None of those videos mention how the software could be used for tax evasion or reporting delays.

What is rather interesting is how the NotPetya ransomware outbreak eventually did indeed result in a tax reporting delay for Ukrainian businesses. Considering that dozens of companies were affected by this malicious M.E.Doc update file, it made sense to let them get things in order first and foremost. Companies struggled to recover key files related to tax reporting, which more than warranted the delay initially. Affected companies still have until December 31 of 2017 to finish their tax reporting duties for the fiscal year.

However, Ukrainian police are concerned about a growing list of companies that have used NotPetya as an excuse to delay tax filings, despite not having been affected by the malware. Companies otherwise struggling to stay afloat could utilize the loophole in order to obfuscate their financial status. For the time being, it remains unclear what will happen to Neverov, who may face a prison sentence of up to three years for his crimes. It is also believed the Russian secret service is involved in NotPetya as well.

The relationship between Russia and cryptocurrency has always been rather uneasy. The country has maintained an complicated relationship with cryptocurrency, ranging from almost embracing it to making it borderline illegal and all the way back to embracing it. The National  Settlement Depository  -which represents the largest exchange group in the country- is working on a blockchain solution which serves as a cryptocurrency wallet.

Russia Wants a Wallet for Digital Assets and Cryptocurrencies

Even though Russia has never been interested in cryptocurrency up until very recently, things are certainly accelerating behind the scenes. Just a few months ago, using Bitcoin could still lead to jail time if it was part of a business model. Today, the Moscow Exchange’s central depository is looking to build a new cryptocurrency and digital asset wallet based on blockchain technology. No one is surprised to see how the country is looking to create a proprietary platform for this specific purpose.

The National Settlement Depository is working together with Waves on this platform. It seems a prototype for this wallet is already in development, which is good to see. It will be presented somewhere in the first half of 2018 by the look of things, but no specific date has been announced. As a result of this proprietary platform, the NSD can issue any cryptocurrency they see fit.

Russia may develop its own native cryptocurrency, as rumors regarding such a project have been circulating for quite some time now. A national digital currency would certainly shake things up quite a bit, as other countries are contemplating taking similar action in the near future. It is unclear if and which cryptocurrency would be issued by the National Settlement Depository at this time, which leaves a lot of room for speculation regarding this project.

Creating a safe and user-friendly accounting platform for digital assets is a top priority for the NSD. Not only would it provide users with legal protection when needed, but it could also introduce a lot of new services and features to investors, custodians, and institutions. This will not be crowdfunding platform, but more of a proprietary portfolio management tool.

Regulation in Russia has not changed all that much. Dealing with digital assets is still a topic of substantial controversy in Russia. This situation remains unclear, such a proprietary digital assets platform may not be created after all. However, it seems to be technologically viable which is a promising start. The technical side of things is only one facet of such an ambitious project.

Russian authorities are paying attention to digital currencies and blockchain technology, and starting to view them in a positive light. This turn of events shoes the country is ready to embrace cryptocurrencies, although the regulatory uncertainty leaves a lot to be desired right now. Blockchain technology certainly is interesting to Russian officials right now, which bodes well for the future of this technology and any project making use of it.

Even though most people will agree that Ethereum has some of the more promising crypto technology under its hood, spending ETH on consumer products is still a major challenge compared with other currencies. Services such as MyEtherShop aim to slowly bridge that gap, and the project bears a few similarities to how All4BTC works for Bitcoin users. It is good to see this type of service emerge, as it should make spending ETH a lot more convenient.

MyEtherShop is a Shopping Solution for the Ethereum Faithful

Spending Ethereum at online and in-store locations to buy goods or services is very difficult. This is not because the Ethereum network cannot accommodate such transactions, but mainly because there are very few retailers who view Ether as a payment solution. That situation is slowly changing thanks to a new service, MyEtherShop.

This new service focuses on making Ethereum more spendable online. The platform itself does not sell anything, but it acts as a third-party service provider for people who want to shop on Amazon and spend Ether in the process. Using a third-party service for such a purpose often involves a service fee, but that is not the case with MyEtherShop.

The service uses the current Coinbase exchange rate to determine the amount of ETH owed for your purchase. However, there are no exchange fees or additional surcharges. Users will pay exactly the same price as they would normally for their Amazon order, but they get to do so using a very different payment method which is not officially supported by the company at present.

Users of MyEtherShop who subscribe to Amazon Prime will still receive their free one or two-day shipping on eligible products, and all users will receive an order tracking link once their goods have been shipped. Using the MyEtherShop service is straightforward as well: users need only copy the Amazon product link and complete the purchase with Ethereum. It is a very powerful and convenient service that will bring some positive attention to the Ethereum ecosystem as a whole.

Some people are questioning why anyone would launch such a service without turning a profit. Admittedly, it does seem a bit fishy. According to the project owner, the goal here is simply to make Ethereum more liquid. He will increase his credit score in the process, as well as obtain 5% cash back when using Amazon gift cards. Plus, he gets a lot of ETH to play around with, which could always go back up in value. The service is available to U.S. customers only at this time.

It is worth keeping in mind that this service may collect sensitive data on its customers. As there is no privacy policy in place right now, it remains to be seen whether that will hold the service back in any way. People looking to spend Ethereum on Amazon purchases without obtaining a compatible debit card will surely find use for MyEtherShop. We can only hope it does not turn out like All4BTC did in the end.

Economists that have been exposed to fiat and conventional economics for decades often struggle to grasp the financial and technical concepts of Bitcoin.