Day: August 25, 2017

Bitcoin’s slow transaction processing is a result of Antpool mining empty blocks, sources are suggesting.

Canadian regulators are starting to identify digital currencies and upcoming ICOs more and more like securities

The maximum impact of Blockchain won’t be felt in the West, but in Africa where it is most needed.

Using a cryptocurrency exchange is often constricted by certain limits and lack of access to all features expected. In the case of Bittrex – which is quickly becoming the most popular altcoin exchange – users may have missed out on some policy changes introduced in 2016. Any account created on or after August 1st of this year which is still unverified do not have any BTC withdrawal option. Their limit is set at 0 until the user verifies his or her identity.

Bittrex Limits Unverified Accounts

It is not entirely surprising to see cryptocurrency exchanges make some drastic changes to the way people can use their platform. Hardly any exchange will introduce major changes to the deposit system, since there is no reason to limit that type of activity. Instead, most users may encounter issues when it comes to moving funds of the exchange again. This is particularly true when you do not take the policy changes into account on a regular basis.

Bittrex made some big changes at the end of 2016. During that time, the company announced that users may be affected depending on their verification information submitted to the company. Any user who does not adhere to the KYC policy put in place can still use Bittrex, but they will not be able to move money off the platform. They will have a 0 BTC withdrawal limit until documents are submitted to the company. This is confusing a lot of people.

This change only affects accounts created on or after August 1st of 2017. Any account created before that date but is still unverified has a 0.025 BTC withdrawal limit per day. That is pretty low and annoying for a lot of users, for obvious reasons. Everyone wants to get their money off an exchange whenever they have made some profit. However, without submitting any personal identification that will be virtually impossible while using the Bittrex platform.

Users who do have their accounts verified have some other limits to take into account. Most of these changes have been active since October 2016 but it is worth reiterating them. Any Basic Account has a 3 BTC withdrawal limit per day, which is a solid amount. Users who have an enhanced account can move up to 100 BTC per day off the platform. Exchanges have to come up with a way to successfully ensure they can verify user identities. Governments all over the world are cracking down on companies in the financial sector which do not adhere to these rules.

Unfortunately, Bittrex may face some backlash for not letting customers withdraw funds yet still give them access to deposit addresses when they are unverified. The company’s policy is there for everyone to read and there is no intention by the company to hide this fact from their users whatsoever. However, a lot of people will be caught by surprise when they find their withdrawal limit is zero. The best way to solve this problem is by verifying your identity accordingly or using a different exchange which does not impose a zero-BTC limit. Every trading platform has some limitations in place, though

It is remarkable to see a company impose such rules and announce them nearly a full year in advance. At the same time, it appears most people have forgotten about these changes already. It is unlikely Bittrex will lose a lot of users because of this change, but some people have certainly voiced their displeasure lately. Then again, the information has been available for everyone to see for quite some time now. We might see more exchanges take similar precautions as time progresses. Limiting BTC withdrawals to zero may seem severe, but it can also be justified.

Cryptocurrencies are “90 percent speculative” according to Ethereum cofounder Joseph Lubin.

SINGAPORE, August 25, 2017 — Enjin has announced its pre-sale event for Enjin Coin (ENJ), digital tokens that offer gamers and game publishers the power to add virtual goods and value to their games and communications.

“Enjin is bringing cryptocurrency to the masses,” said Enjin Coin CEO Maxim Blagov. “We have the largest community platform for gamers in the world by making virtual items and currencies easy for users to use in games or on the web.”

The pre-sale price per ENJ token will be $0.03 each. Those purchasing between $15,000 to $50,000 will receive 15 percent bonus in tokens. Buyers between $50,000 and $100,000 will receive 25 percent bonus in tokens. Finally those purchasing between $100,000 and $1,000,000 will receive 35 percent bonus in tokens.

Payment in ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain will be accepted for both the pre-sale and public sale.

The public crowdsale will run from Oct. 3 to Oct. 31, unless all tokens have been purchased before the end date. A total of 400,000,000 ENJ will be available to the public during the public sale phase.

The remaining 20 percent of tokens will be retained by Enjin, with 10 percent to be allocated for the organization’s core development team and advisors. The remaining 10 percent will be put toward strategic partnerships, Enjin communities and other marketing efforts.

“Giving real ownership and rewarding creators will become part of the gaming culture who use cryptocurrencies on a daily basis,” said Blagov. “It is a tremendous opportunity to be able to help shape the digital currency landscape and have Enjin Coin swiftly gain adoption among our millions of highly-engaged gamers.”

Enjin is the largest online gaming community creation platform with more than 18 million users.  Launched in 2009, their platform has powered over 250,000 gaming communities and transacts millions in sales, per month, for virtual goods across community stores.

Enjin Coin will be integrated into the Enjin platform supported by a payment platform and wallets for its users.

For more information on Enjin, visit enjincoin.io or contact Lilia Pritchard at [email protected].

About Enjin

Enjin is the largest gaming community creation platform​ online with more than 18 million users.   The company, based in Singapore, was launched in 2009 and now sees more than 60 million global views a month. Enjin now sees millions of USD per month in virtual good sales.

Media Contact

Lilia Pritchard

[email protected]

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of any Merkle employees. This is not investment or trading advice; always do your own independent research.

Mining cryptocurrency can be extremely profitable, especially if you use someone else’s computer to avoid paying for expensive hardware or electricity. According to Japanese security firm Trend Micro, hackers have created malware known as CoinMiner that uses an exploit developed by the NSA to use victims’ computers to mine cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

According to reports, CoinMiner exploits a component in PCs known as Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and infects computers using an NSA tool called EternalBlue. This is the same tool that WannaCry used to infect computers all over the world.

Microsoft fixed the EternalBlue exploit through a patch released back in March, but users have been slow to update. Once the malware accesses a machine, it runs a backdoor and installs several WMI scripts that connect to its server, gather instructions, and then download the miner. WMI is a core Windows component used for management tasks such as monitoring disk space, and it can be secured.

After infecting a computer, the fileless malware essentially enslaves it and uses its power to mine cryptocurrencies for the hackers. CoinMiner has mostly been observed in Asian countries, predominantly Japan and Indonesia.

In a blog post, Trend Micro researcher Buddy Tancio stated:

“The combination of fileless WMI scripts and EternalBlue makes this threat extremely stealthy and persistent. Fileless malware can be a difficult threat to analyse.”

Tancio added that fileless attacks are becoming more common, and that legitimate tools and services, such as WMI, are increasingly being used in attacks. Notably, WMI malware was used in the infamous Stuxnet malware that caused substantial damage to Iran’s nuclear program.

According to Trend Micro, the new mining operation includes a timer that triggers the malicious WMI script every three hours, presumably to guarantee that infected computers keep mining.

Cryptocurrency mining malware is not new. Back in May, the Merkle wrote about Monero mining malware “Adylkuzz” and how it had prevented the WannaCry ransomware campaign from spreading even further. It stopped WannaCry by closing down SMB ports after infiltrating a computer. Closing those ports can also help avoid CoinMiner infections.

EternalBlue, the NSA exploit used to infect computers, was revealed as the driving force behind CoinMiner by the Shadow Brokers, a hacker group that has released several leaks containing NSA hacking tools, some even including zero-day exploits.

What Can be Done

CoinMiner only infects Windows machines, and Trend Micro offers a few suggestions to help keep users safe. IT administrators should restrict and disable WMI as needed so that only select administrators can use it. In fact, some computers do not need the WMI service, and Microsoft itself has a guide on how to stop it.

Given that EternalBlue is CoinMiner’s entry point, users should update their operating system, as a patch was released back in March. To avoid exposure to other types of malware, one’s software and other applications should continually be updated.

It is only a matter of time until we see the first cross-chain atomic swaps take place. By the look of things, these first trades may very well include Litecoin and Decred. It is evident the desired team is very excited to work together with Charlie Lee in this regard. Multi-chain atomic swaps will be … Continue reading Decred Team Announces Future Cross-chain Atomic Swaps With Litecoin

The post Decred Team Announces Future Cross-chain Atomic Swaps With Litecoin appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Vietnam’s prime minister has approved a plan that could see the country formally recognize bitcoin as a form of payment, reports say.

It looks as if the world may finally see some more Bitcoin price action today and over the weekend. After a few days of sideways trading and small gains, the Bitcoin price has finally surpassed the $4,350 mark once again. It seems to reach the value of $4,500 is back on the horizon in the coming days. This new price momentum seemingly has nothing to do with the SegWit activation on the network, though. Then again, it was only a matter of time until we would see the BTC price appreciate yet again.

Bitcoin Price Rally may be Kicking off

A lot of people will be more than happy to see the Bitcoin price move up once again. After a $500 drop earlier in the week, it appears things are finally heading back in the right direction as we speak. It is still a bit early to tell what is going on exactly, as the overall trading volume is slightly lower compared to the past few days. Then again, we do have a 4.18% Bitcoin price increase on our hands, which is not necessarily easy to explain. Then again, the result is there for everyone to see, which is what matters most in the end.

With a Bitcoin price of $4,357.63, it is evident reaching $4,500 isn’t all that difficult. That is to say, it’s not hard to reach on paper, even though the reality is often very different. More specifically, it will take a lot of trading volume to successfully smash through that particular wall, as there will be a lot of resistance around that price point. More specifically, it seems there is already some pushback from traders who are looking to deny the Bitcoin price from going up too much.

With $2bn in trading volume over the past 24 hours, it is evident there isn’t any major increase over the past few days. Bitcoin has solidified its trading volume around the $2bn range for several days in a row now. It appears the volume is actually going down slightly these past few hours, as we have seen $2.4bn and $2.7bn in trading volume these past few days as well. Then again, the trading volume itself doesn’t always dictate the price, although it is good to see there is no price decline for the time being.

Looking at the exchanges, Poloniex is currently leading all other markets by quite a margin. Bitfinex and Bithumb complete the top three. It’s always quite interesting to note how fiat currency pairs generate nearly similar amounts of trading volume on several occasions. That being said, the main trading market is XRP/BTC on Poloniex, as well as XRP/BTC on Bittrex being in the fourth spot. Given the recent XRP price rise, it isn’t surprising to see so much volume still circulating in this particular market. After all, a lot of people are debating whether or not they should hold on to their XRP or not.

All of this positive momentum has also helped the Bitcoin market cap grow a bit once again. Right now, the BTC market cap sits at just below $72bn, which is on par with where it was not that long ago. For the time being, it seems the recent dip has been bought up entirely, which is a good sign. Then again, markets can turn around at any given moment and reserve course entirely. For now, it seems we may be on the brink of another major uptrend, although it is still a bit early to say so for sure. Interesting things are bound to happen as far as Bitcoin is concerned, that much is certain.

All things considered, things are heading in the right direction as far as Bitcoin is concerned. It is impossible to tell if the market will hit the $4,500 mark anytime soon, though. Right now, it certainly appears that is a real possibility, although only time will tell what we can expect in the coming days and weeks. For the time being, the trading volume certainly supports maintaining the current price, but things can always change in the future. It’s good to see the Bitcoin price to appreciate again after a big retrace not too long ago, though

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