Day: October 18, 2017

A lot of people are confused over what is going on with Bittrex right now. Plenty of users can no longer withdraw large amounts of money or even have had their accounts closed. This situation is not all that surprising, considering the company introduced a major policy change quite some time ago. Those changes have only recently gone into effect, which is currently causing a lot of confusion.

Bittrex Policy Changes Cause Confusion

A few weeks ago, we touched upon the latest round of policy changes affecting users of Bittrex, the popular cryptocurrency exchange. These changes were introduced by the company in late 2016, yet only went into effect a few weeks ago. It is remarkable to see how few people actually pay attention to these things when they are announced. Instead, we see various reports pop up that the company is “acting shady” and potentially “defrauding customers”, neither of which is even remotely true.

While it is true these changes affect thousands of users, they were also communicated well in advance. Indeed, people who did not verify their accounts before a certain date were informed they would be faced with much lower withdrawal limits until they upgraded their accounts. All cryptocurrency exchanges have to adhere to strict anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) laws these days, which means they need to verify the identity of all customers accordingly.

A lot of Bittrex users seemingly did not take the necessary steps in this regard. Those users are now paying the price for having failed to do so, which is the main source of confusion we have to deal with now. In reality, most users should still be able to update their accounts by submitting more verification documents. Once they do so, their withdrawal limits will be raised once again, which doesn’t require much work by the user whatsoever.

Most of the changes introduced by Bittrex on August 1st focused on improving account security as a whole. Users were actively advised to enable two-factor authentication or else deal with withdrawal limits of up to one Bitcoin. That is still more than acceptable for most people, although it is always better to take account security very seriously.

There is no reason as to why people would have their accounts closed all of a sudden. In most cases, these issues can be resolved by going through the proper KYC procedure. Bittrex always reserves the right to close accounts if they suspect something malicious or nefarious has been going on, though. It seems the site is actively monitoring accounts for unusual activity more so now than before, which means some users will have some explaining to do. Then again, it also has a support system in place to ensure issues like these are rectified accordingly.

In the end, there is no reason to think Bittrex is shady or stealing from users. The changes were announced last year and went into effect over two months ago. For some reason, a lot of people only recently found out about them, which is rather odd. The company takes customer verification and security very seriously, which comes at a small convenience cost. Anyone who goes through the proper motions will have no issues whatsoever, though, by the looks of things.

The financial sector has no love lost for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Especially major financial players are trying to keep people away from BTC right now. Goldman Sachs is one of those entities still on the fence about cryptocurrencies. For now, the bank still advises investors to buy gold over Bitcoin. An interesting stance, considering Bitcoin … Continue reading Goldman Sachs Still Advises People to buy Gold Over Bitcoin

The post Goldman Sachs Still Advises People to buy Gold Over Bitcoin appeared first on NEWSBTC.

Days after the ethereum blockchain underwent a system-wide upgrade, developers have still yet to confirm the software is fully stable.

Bitcoin.com and Calvin Ayre’s war of words continues with an official partnership announcement on Bitcoin Cash “education.”

HydroMiner’s Status Quo With our fabulous pre-ICO results (raising 1,500 ETH in 36 minutes), we are thrilled more than ever to start the main sale of the H2O tokens on October, 18 at 10.00 UTC (12.00 Central European Time). H2O tokens are mining vouchers that represent kwH of HydroMiner’s mining operation. The tokens can be … Continue reading An ICO that is no gamble!

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Coinbase’s GDAX exchange is integrating with algorithmic trading platform QuantConnect to add cryptocurrency options for users.

The excitement around Blockchain has led to increasingly buoyant projections for Overstock.

DIGI, a blockchain based platform for digital goods and services are giving away 300 ETH worth of DIGI Tokens to 4 lucky contributors of their initial coin offering. It is extremely simple to enter, all you have to do is contribute more than 1 ETH during the token sale and you will be automatically entered. Randomly selected winners will be chosen at the end of the token sale and awarded with the prizes listed below:

1st Prize – One contributor will win:

90,000 DIGI (150 ETH Worth)

2nd Prize – One contributor will win:

45,000 DIGI (75 ETH Worth)

3rd Prize – One contributor will win:

30,000 DIGI (50 ETH Worth)

4th Prize – One contributor will win:

15,000 DIGI (25 ETH Worth)

• The giveaway applies to all contributors of more than 1 ETH.
• 4 x random transaction addresses will be selected and DIGI tokens will be sent to the contribution address.
• You can enter more than once. The more times you submit more than 1 ETH, the higher the chance of winning as each transaction over 1 ETH counts as an entry.
• This competition applies to all previous contributors also.

What is DIGI?

DIGI has an aim to be one of the world’s largest digital goods & services platform based on Blockchain. DIGI aims to solve three core issues in the multi-billion dollar digital goods industry which are: copyright issues, high commissions for sellers and the restricted global reach due to country restrictions from payment processing merchants.

DIGI itself represents more than just a coin or marketplace, it envisions the future of downloadable digital goods and services. The platform will be open for all types of digital goods including e-books, website templates, apps, courses, video, audio, subscriptions, services and more.

Two routes of return for token holders

There is a two pronged approach for the use of the DIGI Token. DIGI Token holders will be able to either use their token within trading and exchange platforms or use their tokens to purchase digital goods or services from the DIGI marketplace.

Additional Bonus

Digi is offering a 50% bonus for contributions over 10 ETH. This means you will receive 900 DIGI Tokens for 1 ETH when sending more than 10 ETH. You will also still be entered into the 300 ETH giveaway.

With the combination of a great team, a very viable product and a fixed supply of 98M tokens, DIGI seems to be poised to give a fantastic return for early contributors.

Don’t miss out! The Token Sale ends within a few days! To find out more and contribute visit the live token sale at digitoken.tech.

Please note this is not investment advice.

This is a sponsored press release and does not necessarily reflect the opinions or views held by any employees of The Merkle. This is not investment, trading, or gambling advice. Always conduct your own independent research.

Blockchain services provider AlphaPoint is partnering with computing giant Intel on a new security solution for digital assets.

SegWit2x continues to lose support as 50 signatories in Latin America condemn the Bitcoin hard fork.

Confideal is a new smart contracts platform that seeks to make it easier than ever for users to interact with smart contracts and create their own uses for blockchain technology.  While it is possible to create smart contracts manually on the Etherium blockchain, this typically requires advanced coding skills, or at the very least the additional cost of employing a developer. additionally, in the event that there is a conflict it is often required to bring in third-party arbitration, who may not even be familiar with smart contracts and their properties. By making it straightforward to visually create, manage and enforce smart contracts, they are making a full stack of tools available to the general public, letting them take advantage of things usually reserved for programmers.

The ecosystem consists of three parts,  a smart contract builder, and arbitration module, and the CDL token. The smart contract builder is a user-friendly platform that can be used to create Ethereum smart contracts visually, without coding. The arbitration module offers non-biased, experienced arbiters and legal firms to settle disputes from within the Confideal platform.  The CDL token is the internal cryptocurrency for Confideal platform which allows users to access Confideal’s services and vote for arbiters. This allows for internal auditing of the arbitration system, ensuring that arbitration is consistently fair.

While there have been several attempts at creating visual smart contract development tools, Confideal stands out by lending itself to a variety of use cases, as well as integrating arbitration modules. For example, within the cryptocurrency community, their visually program smart contracts could be applied to ICO’s and the creation of ERC20 tokens. This could also facilitate affiliate systems, e-commerce and online services. For individuals you could involve freelancing or programming of smart home systems, even escrow and leasing deals could take advantage of the platform. Within small business use cases, internal and international trade will become visually programmable,

The new product will be integrated with existing cryptocurrency tools, such as MetaMask. Users are currently able to test out the service live on the Ropsten test Network and audit the contract for free. The ICO will officially launch on the 22nd of November with a total token supply of one hundred million CDL tokens.  Each thousand CDL tokens will be sold for one ether, with a bonus depending on the amount of ether collected during the ICO. Nearly 75% of tokens will be distributed during the ICO, with 10% going to the team and another 6% reserved for pre-ICO participants. The remainder of tokens will be used for promotional activities, advisors and bounty campaigns. More than half of all funds will be spent on product development and business development, with the other half of the budget going towards marketing operations legal and a reserve.

Confideal boasts a strong team of 14 members, many of whom have already worked on numerous ICOs. The project also features the support of several established cryptocurrency investment funds, including Cryptonomica, Byzantium ICO Agency and ICOPromo.   Those interested participating in the Confideal ICO are advised to take a look at the project white paper, available at Confideal.io.

Disclosure: This is a Sponsored Article.

Debate is a central part of the cryptocurrency community at large. Open forums such as Bitcoin.com have fostered mostly healthy fork debate about Bitcoin’s future. It appears at least one participant wished to stifle debate, and in a horrible way. 

Also read: Preparing for the Bitcoin Hard Forks: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

Fork Debate Turns Ugly and Dangerous

Online forums were bursting with outrage over a new low in the fork controversy popularly known as Segwit2x or the scaling debate.

“They essentially tried to get him or his family killed, only takes a simple mistake and [you’re] dead, happens regularly with [SWAT]. Essentially attempted murder, IMO. Whoever did that to him you are scum of the earth,” one poster characterized the event.

Another commenter on a rival forum added “this is dangerous and a very low move,” while yet another agreed and stated plainly, “Anyone who supports [either side in the fork debate] should absolutely condemn such tactics.”

Monday around 9 in the morning, Durham, North Carolina police were dispatched to Jameson Lopp’s house in an effort to address a hostage situation.

The caller’s voice was obviously disguised, saying someone had already been shot fifteen times in the house, and that the caller was holding hostages.

Explosives, the call claimed, were at the home’s door. The caller demanded something like a ransom, threatening “If I see any police coming toward the front door who aren’t handling a bag full of money, I’ll shoot them on sight.”

“By my voice, you can tell I’m not in a mental health state,” the caller claimed.

Emergency medical services, mobile command, and bulletproof vested police cordoned off Mr. Lopp’s neighborhood.

As police surrounded his home, Mr. Lopp apprised authorities of the real situation.

“I am not intimidated by this,” Jameson Lopp, Bitgo engineer and vocal Twitter personality  in the fork conversation, stared into the camera defiantly. “This is actually, from my perspective, evidence that the people who want to do this do not have the guts to say anything to my face. They don’t have the guts to come here and actually tell me what their problem is with me.”

A Sad History, Unfortunately

There’s no doubt some in the niche debate will use Mr. Lopp’s experience to score political points.

The truth is far more nuanced, as prominent bitcoiners are targeted for extortion regardless of their opinions. Perhaps the best-known, and saddest, case involved that of the then-dying Hal Finney, an icon in the Bitcoin community long rumored to have been behind the Satoshi Nakamoto pseudonym.

Mr. Finney, who at the time suffered from Lou Gehrig’s disease and was completely dependent on his wife, was the victim of a similar extortion attempt involving false reports to police. It went on for a year, and some even believe it continues to the present day in various forms against family who survives him.

Surely cryptocurrency advocates on either side of the fork debate do not need any more popular media associations with violence nor criminality.

As the latest hard fork nears, estimates put the triggering block height 494,784 to occur around mid-November, it’s important discussions remain uncensored and within bounds of basic civility.

To the community’s credit, all sides have come to Jameson Lopp’s defense.

Images courtesy of: CSOR, Wired, Twitter, Durham PD.

At Bitcoin.com there’s a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, check out our Tools page! 

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