Day: February 18, 2018

Hackers have discovered that the easiest and most direct way to steal cryptocurrency is to first steal phone numbers.

Hijacked phone numbers are used to drain crypto accounts

A growing number of online crimes begin with hackers persuading cellular phone companies to transfer a victim’s number to a device of their own. In many cases this allows the hacker to reset account passwords that use the phone number as a backup security measure gaining access to email, social media, and cryptocurrency accounts.

Though many who have been hacked this way are reluctant to admit the crime even highly successful, technical savvy investors have been targeted. Case in point Joby Weeks lost control of his phone number and subsequently, a million dollars worth of cryptocurrency was drained from his accounts. This despite requesting that his phone company add additional security measures after his wife and parents had their numbers stolen.

“Everybody I know in the cryptocurrency space has gotten their phone number stolen,” said Joby Weeks.

Hackers seem to home in on those most active on social media platforms related to trading crypto-currency. Experts giving advice on forums and even consultants that appear on mainstream media talking about investing have been successfully targeted through this method.

Bump up your security

This rash of phone porting is the unintended result of what was supposed to be a security upgrade known as two-factor authentication. Many email providers and financial services require phone numbers to be added to passwords in order to verify a users identity not seeing how easily the system could be reversed.

Service providers have taken it upon themselves to upgrade their own security measures by including more complicated PIN’s and adding complex security questions as a requirement for making changes. The problem is that customer service agents still have leeway to allow changes on a case to case basis.

“These guys will sit and call 600 times before they get through and get an agent on the line that’s an idiot,”

Mr. Weeks said.

There are many measures anyone can take to make their accounts more hack proof.

• Add a password to mobile phone accounts.
• Create an email address specifically for use with cryptocurrency accounts.
• Use a phone number for cryptocurrency accounts that you don’t use for anything else.
• Enable two-factor identification using google authenticator, not SMS text messaging.
• Change passwords frequently and never use the same one on multiple accounts.

Probably the two most important ways to secure cryptocurrency is to first hold it in a secure (offline) multi-signature wallet and to keep a low profile online and in life about your trading activity.

In the end, no amount of precaution can stop dedicated hackers if they really want to access information. The goal is to become a less inviting target. It’s like the line about meeting a bear in the woods while hiking, it’s not necessary to outrun the bear just the other people.

The post Phone Numbers Becoming Backdoor to Crypto Accounts appeared first on NewsBTC.

New patent filings from Lenovo indicate the technology company hopes to use a blockchain-based system for the authentication of physical documents.

Key Highlights

• Ripple price after an upside move faced a strong resistance at $1.1500 against the US dollar.
• There was a break below a connecting bullish trend line with support at $1.0800 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair (data source from SimpleFx).
• The pair is currently holding the $1.00 support, but it is struggling to move higher.

Ripple price made a downside move recently against the US Dollar and Bitcoin. XRP/USD must stay above the $1.0000 support area to avoid further declines.

Ripple Price Resistance

There was a substantial recovery above $1.10 this past week in Ripple price against the US Dollar. The price traded above the $1.12 and $1.14 level, but it could not break the $1.15 resistance. It formed a high at $1.1508 and later started a downside move. It declined and broke the $1.10 support area to settle below the 100 hourly simple moving average.

During the downside, there was a break below a connecting bullish trend line with support at $1.0800 on the hourly chart of the XRP/USD pair. However, the downside move was protected by the $1.0000 support. A low was formed at $1.0055 before the price started an upside correction. It traded above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the 1.1508 high to $1.0055 low. However, the upside move was protected by the $1.06 level and the 100 hourly SMA. On the upside, there is a bearish trend line with resistance at $1.0700 on the same chart.

Therefore, an upside move above $1.06 and $1.07 won’t be easy. On the downside, the pair must hold the $1.00 support level to avoid further declines. Below $1.00, the price may decline towards $0.8500 in the near term.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for XRP/USD is currently in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for XRP/USD is currently well below the 50 level.

Major Support Level – $1.0000

Major Resistance Level – $1.0700

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Ripple Price Technical Analysis – Can XRP/USD Hold $1.00? appeared first on NewsBTC.

For the first time in forever – okay, a month – bitcoin is looking bullish again. Not wreck-a-china-shop bullish, but enough for us to focus on things other than price action. Things like hip-hoppers whose love affair with bitcoin is blossoming. And cult-like altcoin fanatics whose taste for the Kool-Aid is strengthening. Like a glutinous Chinese soup, we’ve got a little bit of everything stirred into This Week in Bitcoin.

Also read: American ATM Network Athena Bitcoin Adds Bitcoin Cash Support

The Rich Get Richer

If there’s one thing the 65% market dip has been good for, it’s helping bitcoin whales get richer still. You speculate, they accumulate, and the gap between the rich and the poor widens. Ridiculous wealth has its downsides though, like fending off increased scrutiny from the taxman. If U.S investors thought they had things bad with the IRS sniffing around on the blockchain, they should spare a thought for their Japanese counterparts, who are stung by capital gains tax on crypto trading profits of as much as 55%.

Hip-hop Heavyweights Re Up On Crypto

Nas, Snoop Dogg, and Jay-Z are all indirectly invested in crypto thanks to their backing of Robinhood, the trading app which is about to add the option to purchase cryptocurrency. Rappers have the hots for crypto, despite it being the sort of wealth you can’t wear around your neck – not until someone creates a diamond encrusted Ledger at least. Not to forget 50 Cent with his reported bitcoin millions, and Wu Tang Clan, who’ve been repping bitcoin since before crypto was cool, and were sighted at Anarchapulco this week.

Someone else taking a keen interest in bitcoin this week was Ellen Degeneres. Regardless of whether her crypto skit on The Ellen Degeneres Show contributed to bitcoin’s rise is debatable, but it can’t have done any harm. Not everyone has been as kind to bitcoin lately though; Berkshire Hathaway’s vice chairman, Charlie Munger, described it as “Disgusting, detestable, noxious poison” which sounds like the bitcoin slogan we’ve all been waiting for. Can we make this a meme?

Fork On or Fork Off?

More forks are on their way to an increasingly ambivalent community. Litecoin Cash has arrived, and been disowned by Charlie Lee, but is trading on Yobit, where it will likely live out its days. United Bitcoin is definitely happening, and it may be the most controversial fork yet. In comparison, Bitcoin Private – while not without its controversies – looks almost sensible in comparison.

Speaking of forks, the pitchforks were out this week for Andreas Brekken, who had the temerity to write a scathing piece on IOTA. IOTA baiting is all the rage right now, and regardless of whether it’s justified, it’s a sport that Twitter has taken to with aplomb. For so long as the IOTA community remains touchy, haters will prod and poke at them. IOTA is a loose tooth that mischievous bitcoiners can’t resist wobbling.

10 Ways to Lose Your Crypto

As the saying goes “A fool and his money are easily parted”. While investing in Ponzi schemes falls firmly into the foolish category, it’s also possible to lose your crypto without doing a thing wrong. Sergey Medvedev probably did do a few things wrong to amass his $800 million bitcoin fortune, and duly parted with it once U.S. agents orchestrated his Thai arrest on carding charges. If you lost your crypto due to bad code, on the other hand, that’s not your fault, even if that’s of little consolation.

On the topic of code, despite bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies being open source, some developers are reluctant to share their blockchain innovations with the masses, preferring to protect them under patent law. Turns out there’s been a whole lotta cryptocurrency patents filed in the last 18 months, most of which seem to have come courtesy of Craig Wright – according to Craig Wright.

These might look like identical patents filed by Wright’s company on the same date under the same name, but each one is totally unique.

This is the part where we acknowledge that we’ve ran out of space and time to cover the rest of this week’s top stories, so here goes: we’ve ran out of space and time to cover the rest of this week’s top stories. Which is a shame cos it would have been nice to talk about the Russian engineers arrested for mining crypto on a government supercomputer, blockchain trading game Etherlambos, and why you can’t judge a coin by its market cap. Catch more insights and entertainment in the This Week in Bitcoin podcast with Matt Aaron. See you next week for more sensible chuckles from the disgusting, detestable, noxious, poisonous world of bitcoin.

What was your favorite story from this week in bitcoin? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, and Twitter.

Need to calculate your bitcoin holdings? Check our tools section.

The post This Week in Bitcoin: Hip Hop and You Don’t Stop appeared first on Bitcoin News.

Security experts advise on how to keep yourself and your digital coin safe from  thieves that focus on the crypto-wealthy.

Criminals targeting cryptocurrency investors

Cases of thieves targeting those who have gotten wealthy from the boom in Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies are on the rise worldwide. From Phuket, Thailand, to Manhattan to the Ukraine, stories of kidnappings and even killings for access to peoples Bitcoin is becoming a staple in the world news.

Fiat currency accounts in traditional banks and other holding systems have elaborate checks and countermeasures developed over a long time against thieves. The anonymous nature of cryptocurrency though assures criminals that once they have access to and can transfer the information to their own wallets it is nearly impossible to track down their identities.

Chainalysis is a company that specializes in tracing criminal activity on the Blockchain. Jonathan Levin the founder of the company has assisted law enforcement all over the world to try and track down stolen Bitcoin and its like.

Even when a transaction can be tracked through the Blockchain ledger though the anonymous design of cryptocurrency allows criminals not to have their true identities linked to their accounts. This is where the trail goes cold and not much more can be done.

“For this [crime], the advantage of Bitcoin is that it’s hard to verify,” said Chanut Hongsitthichaikul an investigator with the Chalong Police Station in reference to the extortion case in Thailand that involved a young Russian couple who were held in their apartment by armed assailants until $100,000 worth of cryptocurrency was transferred.

The police were able to track the victim’s laptop to Kuala Lumpur where it was discarded and that was where the investigation ended.

“This is now becoming more pervasive and touching more law enforcement divisions that deal with organized crime and violent crime on a local level,”

Jonathan Levin, founder of Chainalysis.

New security being developed

Recently a group of about 170 leaders in the crypto world held a panel discussion about security in Cancun Mexico. Calling the meeting the Satoshi roundtable the group discussed how individuals could protect themselves and their holdings from crypto thieves.

One measure that came from the meetings was having a ‘duress wallet’. That is a wallet with a small amount of currency to throw thieves off the trail of larger holdings.

Overall security advisers agree one the best measures presently is to keep your holdings in a multi-signature wallet. That is a wallet that requires at least two people to sign in for a transaction to be completed and for one of those people to be off location, perhaps an attorney.

Programmers are also in the process of creating wallets with built-in stress codes. Like duress alarms in banks, these codes can be triggered to inform either private security or law enforcement directly while a person is forced to make a transaction.

Perhaps the best and easiest way to protect yourself and your crypto-currency is to keep a low profile. In at least one high profile case the robbery was perpetrated after the victim had told his friend about his newly acquired crypto-fortune.

The post Protect Yourself And Your Cryptocurrency From Real Criminals appeared first on NewsBTC.

FOMO Moments

A Sunday pull-back is becoming almost regularity in the crypto markets and a red Monday morning is the result.  Bitcoin made it to a weekly high of $11,300 before cooling off a little and retreating back to $10,600 where it currently trades. The correction has taken all of the altcoins with it and most are in the red during the Asian trading session this morning.

To find one that is performing well we need to leave the top 25 once more and go further down the chart. Nothing really stands out in the top 50 which takes us all the way down to 71 and a token called Polymath which is trading 16.3% higher. This newcomer to the altcoin world is trading at $1.35 up from $1.11 yesterday while all others are in decline.

Polymath is a securities based token which aims to allow them to be migrated to the blockchain. According to the white paper, which has only been published this month, Polymath provides a decentralized protocol for trading security tokens enabling s individuals and institutions to authenticate their identity, residency, and accreditation status to participate in a wide range of security token offerings. Using the network organizations and companies can launch ST20 tokens that are already automatically legally compliant and regulated security tokens. Tickets for their up and coming Polycon security token conference in the Bahamas have already sold out.

Interest in POLY, which has only really been traded on the Kucoin exchange since early February, spiked on the 12th. Current market capacity sits at $318 million and there are 1 billion POLY tokens available with 239 million currently circulating.

The only cryptocurrency in the top 25 showing a slight gain this morning is Ethereum Classic, up 0.75% to $34.39.

More on Polymath can be found here: https://www.polymath.network/

FOMO Moments is a section that takes a daily look at the top 25 altcoins during the Asian trading session and analyses the best performing one, looking for trends and fundamentals. 

The post Asian Altcoin Trading Roundup: Top Cryptocurrency is Polymath appeared first on NewsBTC.

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

• Bitcoin price is still trending higher after breaking above a few key resistance levels.
• Bulls are gaining traction and allowing price to move above an ascending trend line on the 1-hour time frame.
• Price appears to have completed its pullback from the recent rally and could head up to the extension levels next.

Bitcoin price looks ready to resume its rally after a brief pullback to a short-term rising trend line.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This confirms that the uptrend is more likely to continue than to reverse. Also, the 100 SMA lines up with the ascending trend line to add to its strength as support.

Stochastic is also pulling up from oversold levels to signal a return in bullish pressure. RSI is on the move down, though, so bears might still have enough energy for another test of support or perhaps a breakdown.

If a bounce happens, bitcoin price could aim for the 38.2% Fibonacci extension level at $11,141 or the 50% extension closer to $11,500. The 61.8% extension is at $11,830 then the 76.4% extension is at $12,257. The full extension is near the $13,000 mark.

Market Factors

The dollar regained some ground to its peers on Friday when traders likely booked profits ahead of the President’s Holiday today. There are no major reports due from the US economy but the lower liquidity could give rise to more market volatility.

Sentiment improved for bitcoin over the past week as an official from the South Korean government remarked in the earlier weekend that they are open to pursuing something like BitLicense. This would pave the way for regulation without hampering development in the cryptocurrency industry.

Looking ahead, sustained risk appetite and dollar weakness might continue to prop bitcoin price up, provided that there are no major changes to sentiment. The FOMC minutes are due, though, and more hawkish hints could still renew dollar demand and weigh on bitcoin.

The post Bitcoin Price Technical Analysis for 02/19/2018 – Aiming for Extension Levels? appeared first on NewsBTC.

Key Points

• Bitcoin cash price after a nice upside move found sellers near the $1,600 level against the US Dollar.
• There was a break below a short-term bullish trend line with support at $1,520 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD (data feed from SimpleFX).
• The pair is currently holding the $1,400 support, but it may remain under pressure for some time.

Bitcoin cash price lost momentum above $1,600 against the US Dollar. BCH/USD is currently correcting lower and is showing a few bearish signs.

Bitcoin Cash Price Resistance

There were decent gains this past week above $1,500 in bitcoin cash price against the US Dollar. The price traded above the $1,550 and $1,600 levels. However, the price was not able to maintain momentum above $1,600 and started a downside move. A high was formed at $1,617 and later the price corrected below $1,550. It also moved below the $1,400 support and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

Moreover, there was a break below a short-term bullish trend line with support at $1,520 on the hourly chart of BCH/USD. Later, the pair recovered and moved above the $1,400 level and the 100 hourly SMA. It corrected above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1,617 high to $1,381 low. However, the upside move failed near the $1,500 level. BCH price could not move above the $1,500 level and is currently trading in a bearish zone.

The 50% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1,617 high to $1,381 low was tested recently. It means the price completed an upside correction and it may decline once again towards or below $1,400. Below $1,400, the price mat decline towards $1,320.

Looking at the technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD for BCH/USD is currently in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BCH/USD has moved below the 50 level and is showing bearish signs.

Major Support Level – $1,400

Major Resistance Level – $1,500

Charts courtesy – SimpleFX

The post Bitcoin Cash Price Technical Analysis – BCH/USD Breaks Short-term Support appeared first on NewsBTC.

What makes a nocoiner a nocoiner is not simply the absence of cryptocurrency from his investment portfolio, but his sanctimonious attitude about it.

February 25th 2018, marks the pre-ICO launch of blockchain powered product authentication and services platform Seal. This Amsterdam start-up enables anyone to verify if a product is genuine or fake. Bart & Joris (founders) share: “We come from a family of creators. Our mother frequently saw her products get imitated, so we know first hand how devastating the impact of counterfeiting is. “Our family suffered.” Seal combines NFC chips, which are embedded into physical products, the Seal app, and the Seal Network to provide a fast, simple, and secure way to provide products authenticity and other services. 

By facilitating a secure tokenized version of a physical product, Seal allows product-specific services to operate such as transferring ownership, theft prevention, product recalls, brand activation campaigns, product analytics and custom integration with third-party software, like the brands’ own app or e-commerce sites. In addition to solving the counterfeiting conundrum, Seal lets brands deal with parallel trade and midnight shifting once and for all.

Counterfeiting Fuels Organized Crime

Seal Network was founded by Bart and Joris Verschoor, two brothers who spent a lifetime developing products and technology. Bart shares: “Our family suffered from it, but the real impact is far more insidious. Counterfeiting fuels organized crime on a massive scale. It’s the single biggest source of funding for crime rings, terrorism, and cartels. Buying knockoffs are perceived an innocuous crime, but that Michael Kors wallet from your local street market or that fake iPhone charger from Alibaba might be funding the next attack like the London Subway or 9/11.”

Disrupting the Counterfeit Economy

Seal Network is designed for adoption by brands. Its business model allows brands to charge fees for services. For the first time in history, brands can earn money from items sold through the second hand trade, while simultaneously protecting their markets from counterfeiters. Every time products change hands, the brand earns a fee, turning their products into revenue streams. This offsets the costs of equipping the products with NFC-chips while providing a lucrative revenue stream where brand monetizes their authenticity. By using the power of the blockchain, authenticity can be checked and ownership can be transferred decades from now, even if the product itself is discontinued, as long as people contribute to the decentralized Seal network.

The Blockchain Revolution in the Palm of your Hands

Whether products are sold in stores or on the second hand market, people can purchase goods with confidence again. Seal brings all the benefits of the blockchain revolution into the physical world. It puts the power of the blockchain into the hands of people. When asked what the vision for Seal is, Bart explained: “The ultimate ambition of Seal? To become the currency of authenticity, where products can be paid in full with Seal. Using Seal to pay for products provides both buyer and seller a guaranteed exchange of goods that are simply impossible with FIAT currencies. The powerful properties of Seal and its functionality as a medium of exchange are a giant leap forward because it is optimized to securely settle the exchange of physical goods.” The start-up is a tribute to all the creators in the world, who work incredibly hard to make the products we all love so much. They’ve dedicated their lives to improve those all around the world. Now it’s time to return the favour. Seal aspires to ignite a renewed appreciation for the world’s most beloved and worthwhile brands. Out of love for creation. 

About Seal:

Seal enables anyone to verify the authenticity of their favourite products. They want to bring back confidence to consumers and allow for brands to interact with their most heavily vested customers in the most direct way the internet has ever seen. They are building a better world in which consumers appreciate the creative work of makers and stop feeding the counterfeit economy and its disastrous effects on the world.

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.

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. With its help you can rise, stand out in a crowd, win, and you can lose everything as well.

It is only the shadows that fall on the reputation – as soon as the brand, product, specialist or common man is subjected to condemnation, attack and lose his position.

Reputation of a private individual  is a more or less clear concept. However, what does the brand reputation stand for? – this is how the company is perceived, as well as its interrelated aspects partners, customers, employees and contractors. In other words, this is a cumulative opinion that provides others a better understanding of whether it is worth trusting a particular company, whether this company offers quality products or services.

CLOSED ROUND is running LIVE!

Interested in getting REPU tokens? Learn all details on REPU Official Webpage!

Is it possible to manage the reputation?

It is not only possible, but rather – necessary! However, how should it be done? Are there any effective tools? What is offered on the market today?

Pre-ICO stage of the first decentralized rating platform – REPU, unique of it kind, is scheduled for February, and the ICO stage – for March. The platform is distinguished by the fact that each registered user can get acquainted with the rating of other participants, provide rating or leave feedback, and get rewarded with REPU tokens. Tokens can then be used to pay for products and/or services directly within the platform.

The REPU team has set a goal to make a new milestone in the reputation market, including on the Internet, in the niche of social networks. REPU is a new channel of communication between all market participants: consumers and sellers, employers and job seekers, creditors and borrowers, manufacturers and dealers, etc. One of the goals of REPU is to combine everything in one place, without intermediaries and advertising.

REPU is the first platform in some ways similar to social networks, is based on blockchain technology, and is also offering token rewards for, familiar to all social networks users actions, such as feedback, comments, likes.

REPU – will become a platform that uses blockchain to store data about the reputation, and that provides services to those:

• who are interested in information about particular object (private individual or company): banks, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, tax authorities, recruiters, potential employers, job seekers, ordinary people;
• who are ready to share their opinions and rate the level of service, the quality of services or goods and get a decent reward for it.

Users will be able to exchange tokens (or use them as discounts) for goods and/or services within the platform or convert on the exchange at current market quotes. In addition, all registered users will have free access to the information, which will give the opportunity to:

• take the business to a new level;

• increase sales;

• provide communication with potential consumers;

• get feedback on products and services;

• find a weak spot in the supply chain: the seller-buyer;

• learn everything and even more about applicants/job seekers;

• increase the rate of loan repayment (for banks and financial institutions);

• climb the career ladder with ease;

• to increase brand / product / service awareness;

• improve the level of service;

• minimize time spent to search for goods, manufacturers, dealers, suppliers of goods and services;
• analyze the success of advertising and marketing campaigns.

This is not a complete list though … Reputation is a tool that can help move the mountains. Wherein, a bad reputation is like a snow avalanche, which is very difficult to stop. The objective of the REPU system of ratings – if not the peace in the whole world, then changing part of it towards a better one – definitely is!

REPU Tokens

REPU tokens will be used for direct interaction of REPU platform users. This model will be implemented with the help of smart contracts, which REPU creators will use to reward those users who will share their opinions, participate in the platform’s ecosystem – each target action will be carried out through a smart contract automatically generating a reward in REPU tokens.

The plans of the project team are not limited to the REPU platform only – in the future it is planned to integrate with all popular social networks. The rating system is the future. REPU acts as a pioneer in the development of this system and provides a complete set of tools based on blockchain technology that other social media will be able to use.

This approach towards tokens creation will fill the gap between the theoretical part of blockchain technology and its application in reality.

About REPU

REPU is a startup in the process of launching the global rating system. The objective of the project is to become the first blockchain platform where the rating of both companies and private individuals will be represented. Nowadays, there is a growing demand for services that can provide users with information about a particular restaurant, company, product, ordinary person or specialist. However, the services presented on the market are not able to completely fulfill these requests in the absence of the system, scale, coverage. Thanks to the innovative rating system, all aspects related to the object’s rating will be taken into account, which nowadays neither occurs in traditional social networks nor in existing services.

Contacts

CLOSED ROUND is LIVE!

Get more information and details:

Webpage: https://repu.io

Ask questions:

Email: [email protected]

Official Telegram Channel: t.me/repu_official

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.