Month: September 2017

Following a Bitcoin themed Instagram post by John Cena, Bitcoin reached a new all time high two hours later

Sponsored article.

Marginalized and fragmented, the cannabis industry is set to get a mainstream makeover with Paragon Coin

Sponsored article.

As consumers rely more and more on online reviews, fake reviews are posing to be a real challenge which Revain plans to take head on.

One person in Finland took an outlandish idea and made it a reality by making a self-built electric motorcycle. On paper, it seemed implausible that it could ever work. However, it does work. With a total weight of 200 kilograms, this self-built motorcycle is raising a lot of eyebrows.

A Working Self-built Electrical Motorcycle

Although electric vehicles are not necessarily something we will see go mainstream anytime soon, it never hurts to dream big. One engineer in Finland came up with an idea to build himself an electric motorcycle. Unfortunately, things did not go as planned originally. There were some big issues with the creation when it was drafted on paper. The “architect” had no experience with building motorcycles, according to traditional rules, let alone an electric version.

The builder had some experience with building new objects. His first creation was a water scooter featuring a self-built drive unit and propeller. The motorcycle was a different matter altogether and it took a lot longer to build since it was a bit more complex. Although the project started back in December of 2016, it took until June of 2017 before he could first try to ride it. There was also a two-month break to take into account. Being an inventor is taxing on both body and mind.

Most of the parts on the bike are used, rather than new. One does not necessarily need a lot of money to build something truly amazing. Some of the parts had to be custom-made. Outlining the concept on paper resulted in 360 pages full of notes, schematics and a list of components needed. He also collaborated with a friend to create a 3D render of the bike to see how well it would hold up.  Those initial tests were overly successful, although no guarantee of how the bike would behave in the long run.

The biggest hurdle to overcome was the battery pack itself. this unit should have never worked whatsoever, considering it only uses used batteries. Different kinds of batteries of different ages mixed together cannot work. It defies all logic to see them in action as far as this electric bike is concerned, but somehow, it works just fine. In most cases, such a battery pack would explode or ignite.

Operating at 96 volts, the electric bike can cross a distance of around 150 kilometers without recharging. Further calibration can very well double this distance, although the tweaking will take some time to complete.  All of the batteries will no longer discharge when an individual cell’s voltage drops below 3.1 volts. This allows the cobbled together battery pack to fully charge in its entirety, which also seems to work without any noticeable issues. The torque provided by the engine controller is higher than expected, despite there being less peak power. Fine-tuning is in order, but the fact this bike even runs is a major milestone in its own right.

To make things even more interesting, this electric bike is street legal in Finland. A self-built motorcycle does not require ABS brakes, even though regulators would prefer it did. Without this requirement in place, though, the bike itself operates within the confines of Finnish law. All of this goes to show one can build their own electric bike and get it to work, although there will always be certain risks involved when doing so. Just because this project works does not mean anyone else’s custom-built bike will.

Singaporean startup Everex has raised $26.7 mln in an ICO which follows $500,000 investment capital funding.

An organization representing the interests of online finance firms in China has issued a warning on initial coin offerings.

DALLAS, TX – In February 2018, more than fifty pre-eminent blockchain developers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists are coming together to brief investors and crypto enthusiasts on where the industry is headed and to provide insight on where, they believe, the most lucrative opportunities lie in 2018 and 2019.

The Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference is the brainchild of Richard Jacobs, publisher of the Future Tech Podcast and former manager of the official Bitcoin.com podcast. He will be joined by billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper (Draper Associates), Igor Telyatnikov (AlphaPoint), Shawn Owen (Salt Lending Holdings, Inc.), Charlie Shrem (Decentral & Jaxx), and more than four-dozen other leading players in the industry.

“Over the last year, I’ve been able to leverage my position as a podcaster to get an inside look at the projects that will shape the future of the industry throughout 2018 and 2019 – and all can say, is, ‘game-changing’”. Mr. Jacobs adds: “This conference is about giving both serious cryptocurrency enthusiasts and new comers to the industry an opportunity to learn about these applications and get connected with developers, entrepreneurs and early-stage investors who are driving this industry forward.”

The three-day conference features an optional “beginners educational track”, designed to bring those who are new to blockchain technology up to speed quickly. The “main” conference will cover some of the most important issues, challenges, opportunities and threats as blockchain platforms (including Bitcoin and Ethereum) scale and enter the mainstream.

Registration for the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference is now open – though the discounted “Early Bird” tickets are available only until September 30th, at midnight. (super-early-bird tickets available until August 31st only)

Those who are interested in attending are encouraged to join the free notification list:

https://www.bitcoinsuperconference.com/notification-list

About the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference:

This three-day conference will be held February 16, 17 and 18, 2018 at the Dallas Airport Marriot. We are expecting more than 800 attendees, over 50 speakers, and 35 exhibitors – with talks from founders, developers, and early-stage investors of blockchain startups, including many that are planning ICOs now through 2018.

Press contact:

Richard Jacobs

[email protected]

(888) 984-0070

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.

The market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies combined is roughly one fourth of the value of Facebook. Keeping in mind that cryptocurrencies make up a whole industry, this number is extremely low.

No one can deny Litecoin has been one of the most surprising cryptocurrencies this year. More specifically, the currency has shocked a fair few people in terms of value. The Litecoin price is now just below the $75 mark, a value people assumed unattainable for the silver to Bitcoin’s gold. Then again, cryptocurrency markets have an odd way of working themselves out in the long run. Right now, a lot of people are poised to see Litecoin go to $100 and possibly beyond. Whether or not that will happen, remains to be seen, though.

Litecoin Price is Surging Ahead

It is good to see Litecoin finally get some of the recognition this currency deserves. Although it is an alternative currency, it is the first one to gain some traction after Bitcoin did so initially. Moreover,r some of the recent technological advancements have helped the price appreciate quite a bit over the past few months as well. Litecoin implemented SegWit well before Bitcoin ever did and may very well have Lightning Network capability before Bitcoin as well.

Although some people will always refer to Litecoin as the “testbed” for Bitcoin development, one shouldn’t dismiss the LTC ecosystem so easily either. The project has a lot of momentum right now and is setting new standards in terms of cryptocurrency scalability. Albeit it lacks a bit in the merchant adoption department right now, Litecoin is still an incredibly useful altcoin. More so than some other currencies which are valued way higher and serve no real-life purpose right now.

That being said, the Litecoin price is now hovering around $75 for the first time in history. Do keep in mind this is a currency valued at less than $4 in January of 2017. People who had put in $100,000 into Litecoin at that time would have been called insane and money wasters. Right now, they are sitting on nearly $1.75m if they didn’t sell LTC in the past few months. Everything needs to be put into perspective when it comes to cryptocurrency, that much is evident. Litecoin follows the same path as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Dash, and a few others in this regard.

It is also worth mentioning Litecoin has a trading volume of around $1bn in the past 24 hours. Although it is not the first time we see such a high number for Litecoin, it is certainly somewhat surprising to see it surpass Ethereum in trading volume. Then again, the cryptocurrency ecosystem is about much more than both Bitcoin and Ethereum these days, that much no one can deny. Litecoin is certainly trying to fight its way to the top as we speak. Right now, it is still the #5 cryptocurrency by market cap, although a lot of people feel it should be much higher on that list.

Looking over the exchanges bringing in this massive trading volume, it is evident Bithumb, OKCoin, and Huobi are crushing the competition as we speak. All of these exchanges combined generate over 53% of the global Litecoin trading volume, which is pretty impressive. Bithumb has been showing a growing appetite for some of the recently added currencies in recent weeks. Litecoin is currently on their go-to list, although Bitcoin, Ethereum, BCH, and Even Monero have been on there as well. One would almost start to wonder which currency will be next in this regard.

For the time being, it remains to be seen how the Litecoin price will evolve in the future. Right now, Reaching $100 seems perfectly feasible, although the time frame in which this can happen has yet to be determined. With the current Bitcoin price momentum, it is not unlikely some altcoins will see a minor retrace in the coming days. The markets will need to adjust to these changes sooner or later, although the USD values may very well remain the same.

So we have come to the end of another week out of Europe for our bitcoin price trading efforts and what a week it has been. What started out as a relatively slow session on Monday pic picked up as we saw the US and European session cross over and things haven’t really slowed down … Continue reading Bitcoin Price Watch; Here’s What We Are Looking At Heading Into The Weekend

The post Bitcoin Price Watch; Here’s What We Are Looking At Heading Into The Weekend appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Android users generally assume Google’s Play Store is safe to use since the tech giant scans every app in there to ensure none has malware. Every once in a while, however, hackers manage to get malicious apps past Google. Recently, according to reports, Google had to remove 300 apps from its Play Store as these were using Android devices to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

Hijacking Phones for Large-scale DDoS Attacks

The apps Google removed were seemingly harmless: video players, storage managers, and so on. As it turns out, they were merely masquerading as legitimate apps, when in reality they were hijacking users’ phones to use them as part of a DDoS botnet.

The botnet caught the attention of content delivery network Akamai after being used to assault one of its clients, a hospitality company, with traffic from hundreds of thousands of different IPs. Dubbed WireX, the botnet is said to be active since around August 2, but was only discovered on August 17. In some of its attacks it also asked for ransom fees.

After discovering the threat, Akamai teamed up with Google and several security researchers from companies like Cloudflare, RisIQ, Team Cymru, and Flashpoint to investigate and solve the issue. The findings, according to a Google spokesperson, led to various apps on the Play Store:

“We identified approximately 300 apps associated with the issue, blocked them from the Play Store, and we’re in the process of removing them from all affected devices. The researchers’ findings, combined with our own analysis, have enabled us to better protect Android users, everywhere.”

The apps could use infected devices for DDoS attacks as long as these were powered on. It is not clear how many were infected, but Akamai told journalist Brian Krebs that up to 70,000 devices could have been compromised. Researchers believe the botnet managed to infected devices in 100 different countries.

In one occurrence, according to Gizmodo, WireX emailed the organization it was attacking, demanding a ransom. Cybercriminals have been pushing different types of ransomware lately, as TheMerkle recently reported on a Chinese underground app that allows anyone without coding skills to create custom ransomware.

Google is now taking care of the apps that infected Android users by removing them both from its Play Store and from affected devices. It is unclear how long it will take.

WireX’s origins

Researchers believe WireX likely began as a distributed method of “click fraud,” a form of fraud that occurs when malicious scripts or programs imitate a legitimate user to click on ads in order to generate revenue. Multiple antivirus tools, according to reports, currently detect WireX as a click fraud malware, not as a DDoS botnet.

At some point, WireX’s administrators decided to use their expertise to turn it into a DDoS botnet. It was able to generate what appeared to be legitimate internet traffic, as it included what was named a “headless” web browser, that can do everything a real browser does without displaying its interface to the user on the infected device.

The SegWit2x Bitcoin scaling proposal has always gotten a lot of attention. That is not necessarily for the right reasons, mind you. A lot of people still oppose this concept first and foremost. It now turns out F2Pool is the first mining pool to officially back out from supporting this solution. An unsurprising turn of … Continue reading F2Pool is the First Mining Pool to Back out of Supporting SegWit2x

The post F2Pool is the First Mining Pool to Back out of Supporting SegWit2x appeared first on NEWSBTC.

The Cannabis revolution has been raging for the past few years as many states in the US have legalised it, but its standardization, regulation and overall functioning as an economic ecosystem has been heavily fractured. This has caused Jessica Versteeg to head up Paragon to try and revolutionise the Cannabis industry on Blockchain technology. Versteeg … Continue reading Cannabis Revolution and the Blockchain it Will Be Built On

The post Cannabis Revolution and the Blockchain it Will Be Built On appeared first on NEWSBTC.