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Bitcoin continues to tumble, briefly breaking below $6000 – CNBC

CNBCBitcoin continues to tumble, briefly breaking below $6000CNBCBitcoin continues to tumble, briefly breaking below $6,000. The digital currency briefly falls below $6,000 to its lowest since mid-November, according to CoinDesk. The decline follows re…


CNBC

Bitcoin continues to tumble, briefly breaking below $6000
CNBC
Bitcoin continues to tumble, briefly breaking below $6,000. The digital currency briefly falls below $6,000 to its lowest since mid-November, according to CoinDesk. The decline follows reports in the last week that have raised worries about increased ...
Bitcoin falls below $6000BBC News
Bitcoin continues its slide, hovering around $7KCNET
Bitcoin Slumps to 3-Month Low Below $6KCoinDesk
Reuters -MarketWatch -TechRadar -CoinDesk
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The Solution to the World’s Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its Creator

The Solution to the World’s Most Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its CreatorLast week, an enigmatic and fiendishly tricky puzzle that had baffled bitcoiners for years was finally solved. In the process, it earned the individual who cracked it a 5 BTC jackpot and brought new acclaim to the team behind the project. After being launched in 2015, at the height of the bitcoin bear market, the […]

The post The Solution to the World’s Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its Creator appeared first on Bitcoin News.

The Solution to the World’s Most Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its Creator

Last week, an enigmatic and fiendishly tricky puzzle that had baffled bitcoiners for years was finally solved. In the process, it earned the individual who cracked it a 5 BTC jackpot and brought new acclaim to the team behind the project. After being launched in 2015, at the height of the bitcoin bear market, the puzzle attracted a flurry of interest. As the months passed and no one stepped forward to claim the prize, interest in the puzzle waned, until last week’s sudden news that its mysteries had been decoded.

Also read: A Look At Service Providers and Tools Supporting the New BCH Cashaddr Format

Satoshi, Shakespeare and the $50,000 Puzzle

1FLAMEN6 was the name assigned to a notorious bitcoin address created in 2015. The notoriety came on account of the 5 BTC locked inside it. The coins were anyone’s to claim, but to unlock them they would have to solve a visual puzzle that had baffled some of crypto’s greatest minds and finest armchair detectives. The Legend of Satoshi Nakamoto is a visually rich painting by @coin_artist, who devised the board game-inspired artwork in conjunction with fellow crypto creative Rob Myers. It was evident that the painting contained clues that would reveal the key to the bitcoin wallet, but those clues were so obscure and esoteric as to thwart all attempts to crack them.

The Solution to the World’s Most Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its Creator
The painting at the center of it all.

That’s until a 30-year-old programmer operating under the pseudonym of Isaac stepped forward and helped himself to the prize. Motherboard spoke to the code-cracking genius, who confessed that holding bitcoin wasn’t safe in his country, hence the desire to preserve his anonymity. Isaac only learned of the puzzle a month ago, but in three weeks made more progress than the crypto community had made in the past three years. Encoded in the painting, Isaac discovered, was the key to the bitcoin wallet prefaced by the phrase “B34u7y, truth, and rarity”, put there to signal that its finder had been successful.

17th Century Wisdom Meets 21st Century Tech

The Solution to the World’s Most Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its CreatorThe phrase encoded in the painting is taken from a William Shakespeare poem called The Phoenix and the Turtle. The poem, like its author, is a subject of some mystery and much speculation. The same can be said of Satoshi Nakamoto of course, who the painting was named after. @coin_artist explained to Motherboard how the inclusion of Shakespeare was “important to me because events flipped my life upside down and I created this piece at rock bottom. The painting was also created during the toughest part of the bear market and those original bitcoins I loaded into that address were half of everything I had to my name. It was essentially a prayer that things would get better.”

@coin_artist created the painting while her fellow artist Rob Myers help encode the key which was hidden in it, using flames around its border and ribbons tied to the key to correspond to binary strings. The full story of how Isaac went on to decode the rest of the clues is a lengthy but fascinating one. Thanks to the number of bitcoin forks that have occured since the 1FLAMEN6 wallet was loaded with 5 BTC, the final prize is in fact greater than $50,000.

Conveniently for @coin_artist, the puzzle was solved at the same time as she was seeking to promote her latest project, Neon District, a blockchain RPG game set in a dystopian future. In keeping with its designer’s methodology, the game is loaded with easter eggs which, when solved, will help players uncover a grand prize of some description. Coincidences aside, cryptocurrency and cryptographic puzzles are a mind-boggling match made in heaven.

Did you try to solve the bitcoin puzzle after it was announced in 2015? Let us know in the comments section below.


Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Wikipedia, and @coin_artist.


Want to create your own secure cold storage paper wallet? Check our tools section.

The post The Solution to the World’s Toughest Bitcoin Puzzle Is as Clever as Its Creator appeared first on Bitcoin News.

College kids using Bitcoin to pay for ‘huge drug deals,’ prosecutor says – USA TODAY


USA TODAY

College kids using Bitcoin to pay for ‘huge drug deals,’ prosecutor says
USA TODAY
DES MOINES — An Iowa man has been arrested and accused of selling shipments of narcotics and other drugs to two Ohio college students, who bought the drugs using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Authorities arrested Anthony Scott Boeckholt, 42, on Jan. 29

and more »


USA TODAY

College kids using Bitcoin to pay for 'huge drug deals,' prosecutor says
USA TODAY
DES MOINES — An Iowa man has been arrested and accused of selling shipments of narcotics and other drugs to two Ohio college students, who bought the drugs using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Authorities arrested Anthony Scott Boeckholt, 42, on Jan. 29 ...

and more »

Augur Ahead? One of the Oldest ICOs Is Almost Live

When Augur first goes live, it’s going to invite everyone to break the protocol. But don’t worry, it’s all part of the plan.

When Augur first goes live, it’s going to invite everyone to break the protocol. But don’t worry, it’s all part of the plan.

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin’s Price

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's PriceOver the past few months there’s been a lot of internet chatter concerning the digital currency tether (USDT) and whether or not it’s really backed by U.S. dollars. Further, there’s been skeptics, speculators, anonymous Twitter handles, and well-researched reports that claim tether printing moved the price of BTC considerably this past year. However, just recently […]

The post Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin’s Price appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's Price

Over the past few months there’s been a lot of internet chatter concerning the digital currency tether (USDT) and whether or not it’s really backed by U.S. dollars. Further, there’s been skeptics, speculators, anonymous Twitter handles, and well-researched reports that claim tether printing moved the price of BTC considerably this past year. However, just recently a Ph.D. student at the University of Groningen analyzed the situation, and his findings reveal the theory of new tethers pumping the bitcoin price looks improbable.

Also Read: Senate of Nigeria Launches Probe of Bitcoin Trading in the Country

A Statistical Point of View Doesn’t Support the Tether Printing and BTC Pump Theories

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's PriceTwo days ago, Oleksandr Ivanov, a data scientist from the University of Groningen, revealed a “statistical point of view” that looks into the theory behind tethers pumping the price of bitcoin. Lots of people believe that tether (USDT) printing had caused bitcoin’s significant spike in value, and they think this relationship is correlated to last year’s phenomenal rise. One study called ‘The Tether Report’ says that when USDTs are printed, the price had kicked into higher gear in “two-hour periods following the arrival of 91 different Tether grants to the Bitfinex wallet.” However, even though some people believe the two digital currencies are ‘tethered,’ Ivanov says the “correlation in all cases is still close to zero.”  

“I approached this question from a statistical point of view — If the alleged Tether strategy is true, we should see a positive correlation between the change of the amount of tethers and the change of bitcoin price at some time frames,” explains Ivanov’s analysis.

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's Price
Historical data of bitcoin price and the number of tethers in 2017 then the calculated the daily percentage change in bitcoin price.
Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's Price
The daily change of Tether‘s market cap (the number of tethers).

A Negative Correlation Between the Number of Tethers and the Change of Bitcoin Price

Ivanov used the historical data from BTC prices using Coinmarketcap and the number of tethers in 2017. Following this, he calculated the daily percentage change of bitcoin price and the daily change of the number of tethers in existence.

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's Price

“Next, I plot the bitcoin daily percentage change in price versus the amount of tethers daily percentage change, and most of the points center around zero — Some points on the far right corner of the plot correspond to large percentage changes in the amount of tethers. These are the outliers. Interestingly, they mostly lie below zero in the bitcoin price percentage change axis,” Ivanov’s research details.

Pearson correlation coefficient for bitcoin daily price percentage change and the amount of tethers daily percentage change is -0.17168 (p-value is 0.001, which is statistically significant). So there is a negative correlation between the change of the amount of tethers and the change of bitcoin price.

Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin's Price

The researcher then looks into whether or not tethers are used to pump BTC prices over a longer period of time. The “correlation in all cases is still close to zero” says Ivanov, and his testing does not support the claims that BTC prices are moved by USDT printing — although, Ivanov explains, his statistical analysis doesn’t necessarily fully disprove tether manipulations.

“A transparent public audit of Tether will shed light on this issue,” Ivanov concludes.

What do you think about Ivanov’s research? Do you think tethers pumped BTC? Let us know in the comments below.


Images via Pixabay, U.S. Treasury, Tether, Oleksandr Ivanov, and Forklog.


Do you like to research and read about Bitcoin technology? Check out Bitcoin.com’s Wiki page for an in-depth look at Bitcoin’s innovative technology and interesting history.

The post Study Finds Little Correlation Between Tether Printing and Bitcoin’s Price appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Korean Exchange Halts Trading Over KYC Concerns

South Korea cryptocurrency exchange Coinpia has halted trading amid concerns it has been unable to comply with new government rules.

South Korea cryptocurrency exchange Coinpia has halted trading amid concerns it has been unable to comply with new government rules.

Bitcoin is getting smashed – Business Insider


Business Insider

Bitcoin is getting smashed
Business Insider
Bitcoin is trading at the lowest level since mid-November when a corresponding surge in Bitcoin Cash saw Bitcoin prices fall below $US6,000. Bitcoin Cash hasn’t been immune from the latest selloff and has fallen below $US1,000 — also for the first


Business Insider

Bitcoin is getting smashed
Business Insider
Bitcoin is trading at the lowest level since mid-November when a corresponding surge in Bitcoin Cash saw Bitcoin prices fall below $US6,000. Bitcoin Cash hasn't been immune from the latest selloff and has fallen below $US1,000 — also for the first ...

Hidester VPN Announces Exciting News That a Wide-Range of Cryptocurrency Now Accepted as Payment Methods

Many people, smartly, turn to a VPN to be able to surf the web privately.  Hidester VPN has made their service even more anonymous announcing they now accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency for payment. February 5, 2018 It’s hardly a secret that all kinds of prying eyes look at where a person goes and what they do online.  Of course, this makes many people uncomfortable.  Hidester VPN has built a remarkable reputation as a resource in this area, providing a service where users can reliably and safely conceal their true I.P. addresses.  To help protect privacy to an even greater

Many people, smartly, turn to a VPN to be able to surf the web privately.  Hidester VPN has made their service even more anonymous announcing they now accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency for payment.

February 5, 2018

It’s hardly a secret that all kinds of prying eyes look at where a person goes and what they do online.  Of course, this makes many people uncomfortable.  Hidester VPN has built a remarkable reputation as a resource in this area, providing a service where users can reliably and safely conceal their true I.P. addresses.  To help protect privacy to an even greater degree, and add a new convenient way for customers to pay at the same time, Hidester VPN recently announced they are accepting Bitcoin and a large number of other popular cryptocurrency for their services.

“We are always looking for ways to improve or add to what we offer,” commented a spokesperson from the company.  “We’ve had requests to add cryptocurrency as a VPN payment method, and we are now proudly opening up that option.”

According to Hidester VPN, in addition to Bitcoin, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Ethereum, Nav, Neo, Qtum, Stratis, USDT, Waves, Monero, Verge, Ripple and Zcash are also accepted.  Hidester delivers free access to users who may not be able to get content based on their location, full protection where data is kept safe on any network used, and complete anonymity.  No user logs are ever kept.

Torrents, P2P, and downloads are all permitted when using Hidester VPN.

“Thanks to the encryption service from Hidester VPN, our members data cannot be captured by hackers when using public Wifi networks” said Hidester spokesman, referring to several past cases in which users had their crypto wallet content stolen when using public Wifi networks as they were not using any VPN service to protect themselves.

Feedbacks for their services have been completely positive across the board.

M.T., from California, recently said in a five-star review, “I travel a great deal for work and there’s nothing worse than having streaming services blocked when I am in Europe. Hidester VPN is a quick and easy way around that, plus it conceals my activities online, which aren’t anyone’s business but my own.  It’s quick and reliable, and now I can pay with Bitcoin too!  Fully recommended.”

For more information be sure to visit https://hidester.com.

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.

How Cryptocurrencies Can Reduce Global Poverty

Cryptocurrency is all the rage among savvy investors. But the technology has the potential for social change far beyond this. Cryptocurrencies can open access to financial services for underserved populations in developing countries, and they even have…

Cryptocurrency is all the rage among savvy investors. But the technology has the potential for social change far beyond this. Cryptocurrencies can open access to financial services for underserved populations in developing countries, and they even have the potential to reduce global poverty by facilitating better access to capital and financial resources, and by enabling small business transactions.

What to Expect When CFTC, SEC Chiefs Talk Crypto With Congress

Congress will hold what may be the most consequential hearing in years on cryptocurrency Tuesday, with the heads of the SEC and CFTC in the hot seat.

Congress will hold what may be the most consequential hearing in years on cryptocurrency Tuesday, with the heads of the SEC and CFTC in the hot seat.

As Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface – The … – New York Times

New York TimesAs Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface – The …New York TimesSAN FRANCISCO — You did not have to be a technophobe to worry that the virtual-currency boom of the past year papered over plenty of problems. The scale …


New York Times

As Bitcoin Bubble Loses Air, Frauds and Flaws Rise to Surface - The ...
New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — You did not have to be a technophobe to worry that the virtual-currency boom of the past year papered over plenty of problems. The scale of those problems is starting to become clear as digital tokens have slid more than 50 percent in ...
Patchy Bitcoin Oversight Poses Hazards for Investors, Regulators SayWall Street Journal

all 3 news articles »