Day: February 9, 2018

SEC and CFTC will be friendly towards “true cryptocurrencies” like Bitcoin and Ethereum #ANALYSIS

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang commented on the rise of cryptocurrencies in an interview Friday, saying they are “not going to go away.”

There is a lot of genuine interest in smart contract technology. While the possibilities are virtually limitless, there is a need for additional programming languages. Scilla may fill this gap in the future, as it is a new programming language proposed by a team of researchers. It is not only a more secure programming language, but it also addresses some of the development problems found in most smart contracts. With its blockchain-agnostic approach, Scilla is certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Making Smart Contracts More Secure and Versatile

The idea of smart contracts has become a lot more popular thanks to Ethereum. In a perfect world, smart contracts would automate a lot of aspects of our daily lives. So far, the technology has yet to be put through its paces, as all attempts to do so have uncovered major security flaws. It is a worrisome trend, but there may be a solution on the horizon. Auditing these contracts is the logical answer, but using a different programming language can solve a lot of problems as well.

According to a recently-published research paper, the Scilla programming language for smart contracts can be of great help. More specifically, Scilla is capable of solving security and development problems in the smart contract ecosystem. Furthermore, this new language will allow for developers to build smart contract-based applications on any blockchain, regardless of whether it’s public or private. This means that Scilla will essentially be competing against Solidity for Ethereum, but that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

Even though smart contracts are powerful pieces of code, there have been a fair few security issues associated with this technology already. More specifically, we have seen multiple Ethereum-based smart contracts cause major issues. The recent Parity smart contract bug is a clear example of how quickly things can go from bad to worse. There’s also the PoWHCoin/ShadowFork debacle, which has kept US$1 million worth of Ethereum locked away for good. Addressing the underlying issues before they turn into problems is the best course of action.

As of right now, a smart contract can be written in a wide variety of programming languages, of which Solidity is the most popular despite being rather complicated. Scilla, on the other hand, is more forgiving for newcomers and coding veterans alike. It is even possible to “convert” code written in Solidity to Scilla. With the new language providing multiple layers of separation for communication and operational aspects, it is certainly worth looking into. Compartmentalizing various components of smart contract coding will hopefully help thwart any attacks made against smart contracts in the future.

The research paper also presents a working use case for this new programming language. Scilla code has been used to create a crowdfunding campaign similar to how Kickstarter works. It is evident this concept can easily be modified for use with ICOs in the future, although it remains to be seen if any company will embrace this new option anytime soon. Giving developers more ways to write powerful smart contracts and applications can only be considered a good thing in this regard.  

With its blockchain-agnostic approach, there is no reason why Scilla cannot succeed in the long run. Even though it was originally built for the Zilliqa ecosystem, it can easily be integrated into Bitcoin or Ethereum blockchains as well. It will be quite interesting to see what the future holds for smart contract technology in general. There is a dire need for more secure solutions as far as this technology is concerned. Especially given the DAO debacle, security improvements should never be overlooked.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

A team of Russian nuclear engineers have been arrested for allegedly using a powerful government supercomputer at the Federal Nuclear Center to mine Bitcoin. In a statement, the center’s press service said: “There has been an unsanctioned attempt to use computer facilities for private purposes including so-called mining.”

The supercomputer was not supposed to be connected to the internet — to prevent misuse — and once the scientists got online, the nuclear center’s security department was alerted. The scientists were then handed over to the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Bitcoin mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, known as the blockchain. And cryptocurrency enthusiasts are rewarded lucratively for mining with a stash of newly minted cryptographically-signed Bitcoin.

The number of scientists has not been specified, but they are understood to have worked at the restricted Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF), located in the city of Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod. Head of the institute’s press service, Tatyana Zalesskaya, confirmed the arrests to Russian news agency Interfax.

She added that she understood a criminal case has been brought against the engineers: “Similar attempts have recently been registered in a number of large companies with large computing capacities, which will be severely suppressed at our enterprises, this is technically a hopeless and criminal offense.”

The Federal Nuclear Center — the heart of Russia’s nuclear operations — reportedly employs up to 20,000 people and its supercomputer boasts a capacity of 1 petaflop, the equivalent of 1,000 trillion calculations per second. It’s a perfect fit, as mining cryptocurrencies requires great computational power and huge amounts of energy.

In the Cold War, the USSR’s first nuclear bomb was produced at Sarov, during Joseph Stalin’s rule. The top-secret town was not even marked on Soviet maps and special permits are still required for Russians to visit it. The town is surrounded by a tightly guarded no-man’s-land, with barbed wire fences to keep the curious away. There are even suspicions that the radioactive polonium-210 used to kill ex-FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 came from Sarov.

The post Russian Engineers Arrested for Mining Bitcoin at Federal Nuclear Center appeared first on NewsBTC.

Scams and Ponzis are easy to come by in the world of cryptocurrency. It is, unfortunately, the price we pay for a popular industry in the financial sector. DavorCoin is one of those projects which draws a lot of parallels to BitConnect, another Ponzi scheme which recently shut down after a few months of action. A daily variable ROI for altcoin lending is not impossible to achieve, but it is highly unlikely DavorCoin offers the real deal in this regard.

What is the Deal With DavorCoin?

On the surface, the DavorCoin project looks like a rather solid investment. More specifically, it provides a high daily rate of return, even though the actual return percentage is quite variable as of right now. That is only to be expected, as there is no such thing as legitimate fixed daily returns in the world of cryptocurrency or finance. Any project claiming to offer a fixed return is, by default, either a scam or a Ponzi scheme waiting to collapse.

While it is smart of DavorCoin not to offer any fixed returns right now, that doesn’t make the project more legitimate per se. The company never explains how it attempts to make money or why the value of its “currency” should increase over time. Without this basic information, it is only normal that people will start to question the legitimacy of such projects. The way things stand right now, there is no reason for this entity to raise any money or offer any investment opportunities to other people.

Looking at the investment options, it becomes evident DavorCoin has very few honest intentions. Guaranteeing that investors will see some form of ROI for anywhere from 89 to 299 days on end is pretty spectacular, but also utterly fake. Moreover, people who invest more funds will make a lot more money and even receive a daily bonus of up to 0.35%. While this sounds appealing, the company never explains how this money is generated or why anyone should trust them with their funds. It is a classic Ponzi approach, by the look of things.

As it turns out, there is no real need to invest in DavorCoin if you want to make money. Those who pride themselves on being referral marketers – also referred to as “shills” – can make a fair bit of money without ever investing in DavorCoin themselves. This does limit the amount of money which can be earned, but there is still a fair commission for every investment made by one’s referrals. With a five-level-deep affiliate program in place, things can get very interesting for such marketers. Assuming, that is, that people will trick others into investing in a Ponzi scheme without feeling bad about doing so.

Even though DavorCoin claims to be a cryptocurrency, it is unclear what blockchain it uses or how many coins will ultimately be in circulation. It will not dethrone Bitcoin or Ethereum, but it could certainly outclass BitConnect because the two seemingly belong in the exact same category. It seems all “mining activity” is done internally and kept under close wraps. It also appears this is an ERC20 token, although it is possible investors are just buying vaporware first and foremost.

The risk associated with cryptocurrency-oriented lending opportunities should never be underestimated. DavorCoin acknowledges it provides a very risky investment opportunity, but it is evident there are some very shady aspects about this company. Considering how it is not officially registered in any jurisdiction, it should not even be able to offer any form of investment opportunity right now.

Several scientists working at a Russian nuclear weapons research facility have been arrested for mining cryptocurrencies at the site.

Russian nuclear engineers arrested after attempting to illegally use a supercomputer to mine BTC. #NEWS