Day: September 10, 2017

Hu Bing, a researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking, says to the Chinese State TV that the government’s ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs) is only temporary

How a Twitter account has taken advantage of OmiseGo Airdrop announcement to phish for OmiseGo investors private details and steal Ethereum.

It appears Bitcoin Cash supporters have a major issue to contend with. This is not a protocol issue per se, but it can have major consequences. Anyone sending Bitcoin Cash to a SegWit-capable Bitcoin address will lose their money. As Both networks support P2SH and sending wallets cannot verify which blockchain the address resides on, … Continue reading Sending Bitcoin Cash to a SegWit-enabled BTC Address Becomes a Very Common problem

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Even though Android Orea has not been around for very long, a major bug has already been discovered. It appears there is an exploit which bypasses the user’s WiFi preference and uses mobile data instead. This will incur additional costs, even if the user sets a specific allowance of data to be used. Google is doggedly working on a fix, which is good news.

The Android Oreo bug is Worrisome

It is never good to see a new operating system come to market and a major flaw being discovered within the first week. Android Oreo has been in development for quite some time now and was finally introduced to the masses a few days ago. Unfortunately, it did not take long for security researchers to discover a major flaw in its source code. This particular exploit revolves around how the OS spends users’ mobile data allowance even when the WiFI connection is enabled and active.

As most people are well aware, the Android operating system will always prioritize Wifi connectivity over mobile data. That is, assuming there is a wireless network to connect to in the first place. However, most users will not see their tablet or smartphone use mobile data when WiFi is available, yet things are pretty different for Oreo. Most users even turn off mobile data if they know WiFi connectivity will be available.

This bug was discovered by a security researcher and has been reported to Google accordingly. It came to light after several users updating to Oreo complained about how their mobile data was being used without them doing so themselves. They were connected to a WiFI network yet still noticed their mobile data allowance go down at the same time. That is rather unusual and it should never happen in the first place. These huge spikes in data usage can be quite costly in the long run.

Some people who suffer from this issue have seen mobile data spikes of up to 6GB in 24 hours. Most users rely on WiFi connectivity to consume a lot of audio and video content on their mobile device. However, if that data is transmitted over a data connection rather than WiFi, things will get out of hand pretty quickly. This is clearly an issue caused by Google and should have never made it into the final version of the OS whatsoever.

Luckily, the company is working on a fix for this problem. At the time of writing, there was no official ETA as to when we can expect this software patch. It is possible this process may take a few days or even weeks. There is no hotfix to avoid this problem other than by completely turning off mobile data when using the Android Oreo OS. With only a small amount of users upgrading to the latest version, the issue is still contained for the time being. Then again, it is still bad PR for the technology giant regardless.

We can only hope issues like these are fixed quickly and never occur again. It is impossible to comprehend how a company such as Google did not discover this flaw in any of their Oreo test builds over the past few months. After all, it is highly unlikely this bug has only become evident through the latest version, as such an issue is usually present in earlier versions as well. A very strange incident, but we can only hope it is fixed sooner rather than later.

Blockchain is only a part of fintech. It’s not a synonym for fintech. Here are some other important innovations of the industry.

It appears most cryptocurrency markets are still in a state of panic. Virtually all cryptocurrencies are in the red as we speak, which is not a positive sign by any means. China’s dubious messaging regarding exchange activity continues to cause fear and uncertainty, particularly in the Bitcoin market. In fact, the price of a Bitcoin just dropped by another 5% overnight and is now struggling to remain over US$4,000.

Bitcoin Price Keeps Slipping

Just yesterday, it appeared as if the Bitcoin price had reached a bottom near the US$4,200 mark. With the price hovering around that value for several hours, it appeared to be the low for the time being. Unfortunately, that turned out to not be the case, as the Bitcoin price continues to fall as we speak. In fact, we are now heading toward US$4,000 which might not act as a support level either, depending on how markets evolve.

These past 24 hours have been troubling for Bitcoin, to say the least. The price has already dipped below US$4,000 on several occasions, yet quickly rebounded every single time. Right now, there is another minor bounce taking place toward the US$4,050 mark, but it may be rather short-lived as well. Volatility reigns supreme across all markets right now; that much no one can deny. Whether or not this trend will remain in place remains unknown.

With a Bitcoin price of US$4,047 at the time of writing, the future of the world’s leading cryptocurrency is in serious question. Although a major price drop wouldn’t necessarily cripple Bitcoin in the long run, it might have significant lasting repercussions as well. Chinese officials have a habit of successfully spooking markets, and there is no reason to think they won’t continue doing so.

Although the Bitcoin trading volume is still holding strong around the US$1.5 billion mark, it is evident the negative pressure continues to mount. Chinese exchanges were trading well below the market average yesterday and that trend has not changed whatsoever. Depending on which USD exchange one looks at, the gap among sites such as OKCoin and BTCC can be as high as nearly US$600. This represents an interesting arbitrage opportunity for some, although exchanges have certain limits in place as well.

If the negative pressure across all exchanges keeps up, the Western platforms will follow suit eventually. Right now, that would mean the Bitcoin price may drop to US$3,650 or lower in the coming hours. When that happens, Chinese exchanges will continue to trade lower as global panic starts setting in across all markets. We can only hope things never get to that level, although it is certainly possible we will see more change over the coming hours. Bitfinex still dominates the markets in terms of trading volume, and it is actively pushing the USD value of BTC back up right now.

It is evident the Bitcoin price is a lot more volatile right now than it has been for some time. When there is such a large gap in price across trading platforms, a major issue is created. Chinese exchanges are effectively bringing the price down whereas the rest of the world is resisting this trend. Even Japanese and Korean exchanges value Bitcoin higher than the current global market average right now. That is an interesting situation to keep an eye on; that much is certain.

Bitcoin has been around the fringes of financial markets for less than a decade, but is slowly gaining prominence as an alternative asset class. Can the government of any major country step in and do the unthinkable – ban Bitcoin?

Attention on ICO classifications may be blinding market observers from other failings in the market, according to one blockchain lawyer.

Estonia’s proposed national digital currency has been shelved by the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi.

Switzerland is quickly becoming a prominent nation in the world of Bitcoin. After Zug announced their Bitcoin acceptance, people have been waiting for the next incentive. It appears the Swiss municipality of Chiasso will accept tax payments in BTC come January. It is evident cryptocurrencies continue to gain momentum in this European country. Switzerland and … Continue reading Swiss Canton of Chiasso Will Accept Bitcoin For Tax Payments

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