Day: January 5, 2018

It is fairly obvious that a lot of people are uncomfortable with the idea of introducing sex robots to the masses. For now, we can only speculate as to how these devices will impact our society as a whole, as the jury is still out on that front. One expert is warning about how these sex robots could turn into killers due to hacks. It is not the first time someone has raised such concerns.

Sex Robots are Vulnerable to Hacking

While most people would classify sex robots as “lust objects” and the prelude to a “rape culture“, there are other concerns to take into account as well. Considering that these machines will be connected to servers and potentially the Internet, it is evident they will also pose an intriguing opportunity for hackers. It will be the closest any hacker has ever come to successfully mindjacking someone. At the same time, no one wants his or her sex robot to be controlled by an unknown assailant.

However, the concept of turning sex robots into proper killers is nothing new. A similar warning was issued in 2017. A few days ago, the same sentiment was echoed by Nicholas Patterson, a cybersecurity lecturer at Deakin University. Although not everyone takes such remarks seriously, the possibility of having a sex robot hacked should not be dismissed. This is a device which can be controlled, either by its owner, the manufacturer, or potentially a hacker.

If there is one thing our society has found out the hard way, it is that no electronic device is safe from hackers. Anything connected to the internet is a vulnerability, and pretty much everything has an internet connection in 2018. Sex robots will need some form of servers to connect to for firmware updates and the like. It is evident this will cause a fair bit of problems unless manufacturers come up with a way to properly implement cybersecurity features. That is much easier said than done, though.

Nicholas Patterson voiced his concerns as follows:

Hackers can hack into a robot or a robotic device and have full control of the connections, arms, legs and other attached tools like in some cases knives or welding devices. Often these robots can be upwards of 200 pounds and very strong. Once a robot is hacked, the hacker has full control and can issue instructions to the robot. The last thing you want is for a hacker to have control over one of these robots. Once hacked they could absolutely be used to perform physical actions for an advantageous scenario or to cause damage.

Although that statement may fall on deaf ears, sex toys have a colorful history of being hacked or controlled remotely. For example, anything with a Bluetooth connection is not safe from harm whatsoever. There is no reason to think sex robots will be any less prone to such attacks, although it is still too early to make any accurate assessments of the situation.

While it is commendable that such technological developments exist and are on the market, we can never afford to ignore the potential risks. If a sex robot were to be hacked, there is no telling what the hacker could do with it. While there may be benefits to such technology in its current form, there should never be a trade-off with security. Rest assured this is not the last time we will hear discussions like these, as sex robots are a very hot topic right now.

Mining operators have benefited from cheap power in China, but that could change in the future. #MINING

DALLAS, TX – Richard Jacobs is the best-selling author of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain, and organizer of the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference, which takes place in February 2018. Every morning since Christmas Day, through his private “Crypto Christmas” podcast, he has revealed another “alternative” cryptocurrency that is poised to go big in 2018. However, on Saturday January 6th, in just over three days, these podcast episodes will be taken down forever.

Here is what people are saying about these “Crypto Christmas” podcast tips:

“Holy Guacamole, Ricard! I just finished listening to your podcast about the “dark” side of crypto. I can’t believe nobody else is talking about these opportunities – because the kind of gains we’ve seen over the last six months makes Bitcoin’s 1,289% rise in 2017 look like CHUMP CHANGE!!!”

“Hey Rich… just wanted to say thanks for the Crypto Xmas tips you’re sending out. I’ve listened to all of them so far, even the one you sent on Christmas morning. I really appreciate your generosity man.”

Since Christmas Day, Mr. Jacobs has been sending daily “Crypto Christmas Gifts” – i.e. insider tips on cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets very few people know about – to everyone who is registered on the email notification list for his Super Conference. If you sign up now (it’s 100% complimentary), you can still listen to and download every tip. You’ll get the links in an email immediately.

Topic covered include:

• (Day 1 – available NOW)
  How to legally borrow against your crypto holdings – top-notch advice from a blockchain CEO
• (Day 2 – available NOW)
  Crypto-insider answers your tough questions – this info replaces months of crypto research on your own.
• (Day 3 – available NOW)
  The deadly problem with cloud storage – and why it’s a GREAT opportunity for blockchain investors who know how to buy into this opportunity.
• (Day 4 – available NOW)
  Ethereum: what it can do that Bitcoin can’t – Richard Jacobs’s uncensored opinion on whether you should invest in Ethereum.
• (Day 5 – available NOW)
  Ripple: Smart investment or bad egg? – many people are surprised when they hear the insight that’s revealed in this “Crypto Christmas” podcast episode
• (Day 6 – available NOW)
  3 picks for anonymous crypto investments – Bitcoin’s privacy issues revealed, and how people with legitimate concerns can protect their privacy
• (Day 7 – available NOW)
  Will Dash knock Bitcoin off its perch? – this may make the “cryptocurrency war” irrelevant.
• (Day 8 – available NOW)
  How to invest in the “dark” side of crypto – investments that are off-limits to most people.
• (Day 9 – available NOW)
  ICOs: not all rainbows and unicorns, but still worth it? – this is probably the most sophisticated level of crypto investing with, potentially, the highest rewards (and risks)
• (Day 10 – coming up)
  Hodling: should you still do it? – what Richard Jacobs would do if he could start over again and start investing into Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for the first time
• (Day 11 – coming up)
  How to shorten your crypto learning-curve – the best ways to get inside crypto intel
• (Day 12 – coming up)
  Bitcoin Cash: an uncensored primer – this is bound to upset some people, but you need to know the deal

IMPORTANT:

On Saturday January 6th, in the evening, all the “Crypto Christmas Gift” podcasts will be taken down and deleted. Unless you hurry and download them in the next few days, they’ll be gone forever.

Do you want to get these crypto tips too – before they are taken down?

If so, follow the link below and sign up to the Super Conference notification list. Not only will you receive all twelve of these Crypto Christmas tips, you’ll also benefit from a special discount on tickets to the conference itself – which takes place in February at Dallas/Fort Worth airport.

Subscribe to the “12 Days of Crypto Christmas” email promotion HERE:

###

Press contact:

Richard Jacobs

[email protected]

(888) 984-0070

About the Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Blockchain Super Conference:

This three-day conference will be held at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport from Friday February 16th to Sunday February 18th, 2018. We are expecting more than 800 attendees, at least 50 headline speakers, and upward of 50 exhibitors – with talks from founders, developers, and early-stage investors of blockchain startups, including many that are planning ICOs throughout 2018.

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.

Cointelegraph (Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain News)

Bitcoin Hits Multi-Week Highs Despite Continuing Altcoin Surge Cointelegraph (Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain News) Bitcoin climbed 11 percent into Friday to post its highest price since mid-December: one coin was worth $16,920, cross-exchange data shows. Exchanges tracked by Coinmarketcap recorded an average trade price maximum of just under $17,000 earlier Friday ...

Telegraph.co.uk

Visa locks down Bitcoin payment cards in crackdown on card issuer Telegraph.co.uk Thousands of Bitcoin users have had their pre-paid cryptocurrency cards shut down in a crackdown by Visa on a card provider. Several major pre-paid cards that allow users to make payments and ATM withdrawals using their Bitcoin and cryptocurrency funds ... Bitcoin Jumps, Ethereum Hits A High, Visa Suspends Crypto Debit CardsNasdaq Visa Cracks Down on Bitcoin Debit Cards in Europe, Providers SayCoindesk all 9 news articles »

Bitcoin begins clawing back ground with prices set to hit $17k. #BRIEF

Ripple’s XRP token may have found a short-term top and there’s potential for a sustained pullback in prices, price charts suggest.

Anything goes in the cryptoland, so much so that an altcoin created as a parody has just reached a billion dollar market capacity. Dogecoin was created in 2013, its mascot is a Japanese Shiba Inu dog made popular by an internet meme dating back eight years.

The dog it seems has broken off its leash after being largely left behind last year as other altcoins too center stage. Defying its creator’s belief, DOGE has risen 900% in the past six weeks from $0.001 to its current high of $0.01. What is more astounding is that it has surpassed the billion dollar market capacity which puts it just behind Russian crypto platform Waves in the market cap charts. Over $120 million has been traded in DOGE in the past 24 hours according to Coinmarketcap.

Jackson Palmer, the founder of the cryptocurrency who left the team in 2015, is concerned;

“The fact that most conversations happening in the media and between peers focus on the investment potential is worrying, as it draws attention away from the underlying technology and goals this movement was based on. I have a lot of faith in the Dogecoin Core development team to keep the software stable and secure, but I think it says a lot about the state of the cryptocurrency space in general that a currency with a dog on it which hasn’t released a software update in over 2 years has a $1B+ market cap.”

Current Dogecoin developer Patrick Lodder was equally surprised and told Coindesk;

“To me, this proves that we don’t need shiny features or a ton of innovation and even with a conservative – and in my own case completely distracted – development team for a boom,”

The sentiment was shared by another developer on the team, Max Keller;

“It’s a little scary when you work on software that powers a billion dollar network. This is quite the responsibility. And also one of the main reasons why we are so reluctant to just slap any ‘innovative’ tech into the reference client. Still, I am proud of what we achieved and thankful to be part of such a great community.”

Dogecoin does not really have a grand purpose aside from being a simple internet currency. Its appeal could just be its low cost. There is a psychological barrier to overcome when a single digital coin such as Bitcoin is worth $15,000, new traders would be more comfortable owning several thousand smaller altcoins than a fraction of a Bitcoin. Digital assets trading house Octagon Strategy managing director Dave Chapman told CNBC;

“The two most well-known cryptocurrencies (i.e. bitcoin and ethereum) are considered too expensive for most new entrants. Despite being able to purchase a fraction of each, there is a real psychological barrier around owning something in its entirety,”

DOGE is currently traded the most on Bittrex and Poloniex which have 23% and 20% of the volume respectively.

The post Dogecoin Woofs at Moon with a Billion Dollars appeared first on NewsBTC.

Dubai is a city known for its extravagance and technology. Flying taxis, water jet firefighters, and robotic police are all parts of its current reality or future. It would not be a surprise if they were simply looking into smart contracts and cryptocurrencies, but what many may not realize is that they also plan on being the world’s first blockchain-powered government.

Dubai as a Blockchain City

There are some immediate and obvious advantages to getting much of a nation’s citizenship and other tedious documents which require extensive reconciliation between various organizations onto a blockchain. Distributed, decentralized ledgers offer numerous benefits for this kind of recordkeeping.

Dubai plans to make the majority of city documentation powered by smart contracts by the year 2020. This is ambitious, but not impossible. The various items that will find their way onto the blockchain by then are: visa applications, bill payments, and license renewals. Essentially, anything that currently requires paperwork will likely end up on the blockchain between now and 2020.

This makes an incredible amount of sense, and the amount of money saved by cutting down on man-hours and labor costs is significant.

Culturally Appropriate Coins

While many may assume that these smart contracts and the associated data will be written on a public, already widely-used blockchain, we may need to reconsider. There are many reasons why new cryptocurrencies may be more attractive to governments, such as Dubai’s, over others. Namely, there are coins like DubaiCoin (DBIX), which was built and developed by residents of Dubai. One must also consider the fact that Islam (the majority religion in the UAE) also has its own set of financial laws, which would make a locally created coin a more culturally appropriate choice for a predominantly Islamic city.

Please note that this is only a guess, as the Dubai government has not yet announced which blockchain(s) it will employ to facilitate these smart contract functions. Do not take this as financial advice.

Other Governments Hold Their Breath

At the end of the day, this is going to be an incredibly valuable dry run for the rest of the world. This will demonstrate just how effective blockchain technology can be for solving the many challenges that national governments face.

Once the example has been set, the benefits made apparent, and the pitfalls identified, this is going to be a great blueprint for other governments and cities to follow. While the cost of spinning all of this up may be a bit beyond the means of many governments for a while, the price of blockchain adoption will surely decrease the more widespread it becomes.

We should all be excited about this.

A prominent mainstream investor is taking aim at entrance into the cryptocurrency sector with a new business venture.

DASH/USD

DASH continues to grind back and forth with an overall upward proclivity. However, there seems to be a significant amount of resistance between the $1200 level and the $1300 level, keeping the market a bit subdued. If we can break above $1300 level, the market should continue to go much higher. However, I think this is going to take a certain amount of work so look at pullbacks as momentum building exercises that you can take advantage of, prepping yourself for the bigger moved to the upside.

 

LTC/USD

Litecoin continues to do very little, as we hover around the $250 level. For the longer-term, it is probably bullish but right now I don’t see much in the way of price action or volume to convince me to start putting money to work. If you are already involved in Litecoin, patience will be needed to realize profits.

Thanks for watching, see you tomorrow.

The post DASH and Litecoin Analysis January 8, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

ETH/USD

Ethereum rallied again during the trading session on Friday, finally reaching the $1000 level. Ultimately, I think we can break above this area, but it would not surprise me at all to see short-term pullbacks to build up enough momentum to do so. I look at the $900 level as the likely “floor” in the market. Once we break above the $1000 level, the $1100 level will be targeted.

 

ETH/BTC

Bitcoin rallied significantly during the day against the US dollar, so this of course had a bit of an effect over here as well. However, it appears that the 0.06 level is offering support, so I believe it’s only a matter of time before the buyers return. I like buying dips, and believe that the uptrend is intact as long as we can stay above the 0.05 handle.

Thank you for watching, I’ll be back tomorrow.

The post Ethereum Analysis January 8, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin went sideways initially during the trading session, but then shot higher as the market reached towards the vital $16,000 level. A clearance of that level for more than a few hours should send this market higher, perhaps reaching towards the $18,000 level. Otherwise, look for pullbacks as potential buying opportunities.

 

BTC/JPY

Bitcoin is testing the ¥1.91 million level as I record this, which is the beginning of resistance to the ¥2 million level. I believe that pullbacks should be buying opportunities, but given enough time we will probably break above that vital ¥2 million level, allowing the market to reach towards the ¥2.25 million level. In the meantime, pullbacks offer value.

Thanks for watching, I’ll be back tomorrow.

The post Bitcoin analysis January 8, 2018 appeared first on NewsBTC.

The year 2017 has been incredibly positive for most cryptocurrency exchanges. All platforms saw their user base grow, which is always a positive outcome. At the same time, it also means these companies need to start upgrading their infrastructure sooner or later. Otherwise, they will suffer from degraded services, such as Kraken and Coinbase. Binance is halting new user registrations due to the overwhelming influx of new traders.

In a way, it is good to see exchanges halt new user registrations ahead of time. More specifically, if the infrastructure gets taxed too much, things will deteriorate pretty quickly. Companies such as Kraken and Coinbase know all too well how things can get out of hand. Binance wants to remain ahead of the curve at all times. To do so, they are not accepting any new users until an internal upgrade has been completed. A smart decision by the company, as it will avoid unnecessary friction.

A Major Step Forward by Binance

While this is not a popular decision, it does make a lot of sense.All services will remain operational for the time being. New users will simply have to wait until the infrastructure upgrade is complete. For now, we don’t know how long this will take, though. The popularity of Binance should not be underestimated by any means. It has quickly become one of the hottest altcoin exchanges in the world. That popularity will only increase further if they continue to provide an optimal service.

If Coinmarketcap is to be believed, Binance is the biggest cryptocurrency trading platform in the world. Their daily volume has surpassed $2.5bn, which is rather impressive. It simply makes sense to implement the necessary upgrades at such a critical time. After all, if the company were to suffer from issues, their reputation would take a major hit. It’s always best to scale well in advance, rather than wait for problems to arise. There is still a growing demand for cryptocurrencies, that much is rather evident.

Such rapid growth in the world of cryptocurrency is rather unprecedented. After all, things were trucking along nicely until mid-2017. Ever since it feels as if we are in a new gold rush era. Everyone wants to sue exchanges and buy cryptocurrency. A positive development, assuming companies can scale quickly enough. Whether or not Binance will be successful in doing so, remains to be determined. Their course of action certainly hints at a positive future in this regard.

The post Binance Shuts the Door on new Account Registrations due to Overwhelming Popularity appeared first on NewsBTC.

In the world of cryptocurrency, there are always currencies and assets which reach milestones without people paying attention to it. In the case of NEO, the value surpassed $100 several times in the past few days. This is a positive sign, especially now that the NEO price seems to be stabilizing above the $103 mark. This particular currency has certainly come a very long way in recent months.

NEO Price Solidifies its Momentum

The year 2017 has been pretty kind to NEO, as well as most other altcoins in the top 25 by market cap. After rebranding from AntShares to NEO, people were somewhat concerned this change would not be perceived as positive. Most of these concerns were unfounded, though, as the NEO price kept climbing over time. Even the CNY-based trading ban by the PBoC last year didn’t derail the NEO price momentum all that much.

Especially the past two months have been pretty good for NEO holders. After the altcoin cemented a solid support platform at $25, the NEO price started inching higher and higher nearly every day. By late November, the price had already increased to almost $35, which further confirmed the slow and steady approach. Three weeks later, the NEO price surged to $80, although it was rejected quickly. Not entirely surprising, as people tend to take profits when things are finally falling into place.

Fast forward to today, and we are looking at a NEO price of $104.22. It is the third time in a week the NEO price surpasses the $100 level, although there’s always some strong resistance when it happens. This latest attempt appears to be going a bit smoother, even though the price has bounced between $109 and $98 on multiple occasions today as well. Solidifying such momentum for the long run is always difficult, especially since no one knows how the Bitcoin price will evolve.

With close to $350m in 24-hour trading volume, things are looking pretty good for NEO right now.Its volume is higher than some of its nearest competitors based on market cap. At the same time, the overall trading volume is higher compared to Q3 of 2017, even though some coins still struggle to break $250m on a daily basis. Higher lows in volume is always a positive sign for any cryptocurrency, and NEO will be no exception in this regard when it happens.

Binance and Bittrex are competing for the top spot in terms of trading volume for NEO. It is a bit worrisome to only see one fiat currency market in the entire top 20, even though most people will consider the USDT market to be fiat currency as well. Most people are converting between NEO and Bitcoin or Ethereum right now. That isn’t necessarily a bad trend, but it also shows the fresh capital isn’t entering through NEO directly these days. Again, this situation can always change at any given moment, for all we know.

In the end, things are looking up for the NEO price as we speak. With a solid push toward $100 and more, it will be interesting to see if the triple-digit value can be maintained for more than a few hours this time. There’s a very positive vibe going around in the world of cryptocurrency right now. A lot of big surprises will come to fruition before the year is over, that much is almost guaranteed