Day: March 13, 2018

App to clean up service sector and look after self-employed. #SPONSORED

Further details have emerged about the nature of the case between Craig S. Wright and David Kleiman. Boies Schiller Flexner will be representing the estate of the plaintiff in the $10.2 billion case. Meanwhile, Wright will be defended by attorneys from Rivero Mestre LLP.

$10 Billion in BTC: Wright’s, Kleiman’s, or  Neither?

The brother of paralysed IT expert David Kleiman filed the lawsuit on behalf of his sibling’s estate last month. Ira Kleiman alleges that Wright stole intellectual property, as well as over a million Bitcoin from David Kleiman following his death. It’s thought that Wright forged his former partner’s signatures and falsified dates on legal documents to commit the embezzlement.

According to the National Law Journal, the Boies Schiller attorneys assigned to the case are Devin “Velvel” Freedman and Kyle Roche. Freedman is part of the firm’s Miami counsel. Meanwhile, Roche is an associate from their Armonk office. Freedman spoke to the NLJ about the plaintiff reaching out to the company for representation:

“The client came to us primarily because of the firm’s litigation expertise and my experience in handling international disputes. But he was also impressed with the knowledge of cryptocurrencies and blockchain-related issues of lawyers like Kyle Roche, who is working on the case with me.”

Later in the emailed statement, Freedman goes on to raise the issue of the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto. The Florida lawyer said that although the case’s main objective was to recover the funds for Kleiman’s estate, it could also involve the questioning of who exactly created Bitcoin originally.

Wright famously declared that he was Satoshi back in 2016. He refused to present any proof, however, and many around in the early days of Bitcoin refute the possibility that he could be responsible for the creation of the most popular crypto today.

The implications of the case could be massive. Of course, Craig Wright stands to lose a lot of cash from it and in digging deep into the early days of Bitcoin, the identity of the creator could be revealed. However, some refute that the coins Kleiman’s estate and Wright are arguing over even belonged to either of them.

Blockchain analysis team WizSec has done extensive detective work into the ownership of each of the wallet’s mentioned in the case so far. Using advanced blockchain forensics, they were able to identify many of them as belonging to other companies or individuals that have no connection with either party in the case. Several have links with employees or customers at now-defunct exchange Mt. Gox.

We’ll have to wait for the case itself to test the validity of any party’s claims, however. The next stage in proceedings is expected to be a response from Wright’s legal team by April 16, 2018.

 

The post Lawyer in Kleiman vs Wright: “Raises Questions About the Identity of Satoshi Nakamoto” appeared first on NewsBTC.

The U.S. House’s Capital Markets, Securities and Investment subcommittee will explore cryptocurrencies and ICO markets in a hearing on Wednesday.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is beginning 2018 on an aggressive note, prioritizing the implementation of two new programs pertaining to the disclosure of foreign financial accounts, such as Swiss bank accounts, and virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin.

Coinbase has fixed the payment gateway bug that emerged after SegWit implementation, less than 30 users affected. #NEWS

On Tuesday, March 13, OB1, the company building the cryptocurrency-centric marketplace Openbazaar, has announced it has raised $5 million USD in a recent series A funding round. According to the startup, Omers Ventures and Bitmain Technologies were the lead investors in the funding round for the e-commerce marketplace.

Also Read: Survey Finds South Korean Youth the Most Active Crypto-Investors

Omer Ventures and Bitmain Lead the $5M Series A Funding Round for OB1

Openbazaar is an open source project that has built a platform that facilitates cryptocurrency infused e-commerce transactions. OB1 has launched the Openbazaar platform with its first release back in April of 2016. Since then the protocol has added many additions like a marketplace wallet, Tor integration, and enabling purchases with bitcoin cash and zcash. Over the past few years, over $4 million in venture capital has been injected into the project. Now, this week OB1 reveals it has raised another $5 million from prior investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and the Digital Currency Group. Moreover, this series funding was led by Omers Ventures and the mining giant Bitmain Technologies.

OB1’s CEO Brian Hoffman says the team is pleased to partner with Omers and Bitmain and hopes the two large firms will help bolster “the future of free trade on the Internet worldwide.” Hoffman explains during the announcement:

Our goal is to see the Openbazaar protocol and software empower business owners and consumers alike to shift away from the corporate-controlled legacy systems and engage in e-commerce in a free, fair and independent way.

Trading Expansion and an Openbazaar Mobile Platform

The company says it plans to continue expanding Openbazaar in order to give users more flexibility to buy and sell goods in a decentralized manner. This year the OB1 development team plans to release a mobile version of Openbazaar and offer new ways to trade in a peer-to-peer fashion.

“Such as making requests and buying and selling cryptocurrencies,” explains the company. “OB1 is also expanding the services it offers to users on OpenBazaar, such as the Verified Moderators program, released this week.”

The funding news follows the development teams recent multi-currency integration and the increase of 25,000 Openbazaar nodes. Alongside the recent announcement of the Openbazaar token (OBT) which will be based on the ethereum blockchain and aims to process smart contracts within the marketplace environment.

What do you think about Openbazaar raising $5M USD from Omer, Bitmain, and others? Let us know what you think in the comments below.    

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Images via Shutterstock, Bitmain, Omers Ventures, and Bitmain.

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

The post Openbazaar Raises $5M from Investors Including Bitmain appeared first on Bitcoin News.

When it comes to digital theft, there is one aspect which is frequently misunderstood and miscommunicated.

Despite popular belief, a thief isn’t stealing an individual’s asset itself (SSN, phone number, money); rather, he or she is stealing the key to acquiring that SSN, phone number, and/or money, at least initially. The key unlocks the means by which to obtain that information.

When it comes to cryptocurrency theft, the same logic applies.

They’re Not Stealing Your Crypto, They’re Stealing Your Cryptographic Key

Whether we are talking Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, or any other virtual currency, the most important thing to remember is that they don’t physically exist. A virtual currency is nothing more than a digital ledger (think checkbook ledger or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet) known as a blockchain. Similar to a checkbook ledger or other spreadsheet, the blockchain stores and manages an ever-growing list of addresses and the number of units of a currency there are at those specific addresses.

What you as an owner of cryptocurrency actually hold is a cryptographic key, not the unit of currency (BTC, LTC, ETC, etc.) itself, because it doesn’t actually exist. The key allows a holder to unlock the address where that unit is located. The value that attracts thieves and attackers is the open ledger itself, which you have access to with your cryptographic key.

The issue when it comes to cryptotheft is that attackers are coming after your key, and nothing more. As for the methods they use to acquire that key — well, that’s what you need to protect yourself from.

They’ve Unlocked The Door, But What’s On The Other Side?

“Only secrecy of the key provides security,” said Auguste Kerckhoffs, a 19th-century cryptographer. His fundamental principle was that a cryptosystem should be secure even if everything about the system, except the key, is public knowledge. Once an attacker acquires one’s cryptographic key, however, he or she has access to everything behind the database. Kerckhoffs’s principle was reformulated by American mathematician Claude Shannon, who coined the principle the enemy knows the system.

The next stage to a theft is obtaining a platform on which to transfer the stolen cryptocurrency. Such platforms, mixers and tumblers, take the stolen coins and mix them with those of other users, creating a new transaction address. Consequently, the blockchain is unable to associate the stolen currency with the addresses from which they were taken. In other words, the blockchain is confused.

However, attackers are careful in regards to the tumblers and mixers they use in terms of delivering or accessing certain information.

Converting The Key Into Transferable Currency

Since the emergence of this new digital paradigm, many merchants are not yet sold on it. While the idea behind crypto is the decentralized market, willingness to accept cryptocurrency in lieu of other forms of payment is minimal. Thus, the need to convert one’s coin(s) to other currencies. This is done using Coinbase, Ripple, and other platforms. However, these platforms require one to provide sensitive information to open an account. Once accounts are created and the crypto converted, an attacker has completed the last stage of the theft.

But not all attackers clear up their digital footprints, and hence are still vulnerable to discovery.

On March 6, 2018, the management of the BitRent blockchain platform held a closed presentation for key investors and heads of the UAE construction departments. The event was named “BitRent Private Conference”.

Who participated?

Compacts of intent and commitment were signed by well-known developers of the UAE: Dubai Property, 22 carats, Kempinski, Virtue GI.

The conference was visited by investors, whose total wealth according to Forbes is in excess of more than 15,000,000,000 US dollars. The event was attended by Sheikh Saif Al Mansoori, Sheikh Sultan Al Nuaimi, investor Mahendra Patel. The invited guests included:

• Mohamed Mahgoub, Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
• Saif Al Mansoori, Ben Mansoori Company;
• Abdulhakim Mahmood, Director, Dubai Properties Group;
• Alexander Pushilin, a private investor;
• Mohamed FawadAkber CEO of AIP;
• Mahendra Patel, GEAP group member;
• Maria Marchenko, founder of Capric Media;
• Pradeep Padmanabahan, director of the OBS group;

The purpose of BitRent Private Conference

The main goal of the presentation, set by the creators of the project Dmitry Starovoitov, Igor Pavlov and Vadim Dashut, was to gather the leaders of crypto clubs, blockchain funds and leading specialists in the construction industry, as well as to create favorable conditions for establishing business ties. The presentation of the unique constructional blockchain-platform and the first tokenized facility allowed us to uncover the potential of BitRent for the development of the construction industry and to demonstrate the real estate sector’s and crypto economy’s points of convergence.

The platform will help solve the main issues of the construction market such as closedness and conservatism. It will give investors the opportunity not only to invest resources but also to fully control the construction of any facilities.

Platform’s Advantages

One of the key advantages of BitRent is the low entry threshold. This attracts an almost unlimited number of participants to any construction projects. The security of operations on the platform is guaranteed by Blockchain, Smart Contracts, BIM, and RFID technologies.

Participants of the system get full access to the database of objects under construction, they can select an object for the parameters of interest, vote for the priority of projects, monitor the stages of a construction process in real time. BitRent does not have geo-references. Anyone can invest in projects around the world.

Investors not only receive up to 30% of the profit from investments but also become the shareowners of the building projects. Financial resources invested in platform projects are protected from exchange fluctuations. And the exact procedure of investing funds and of construction control is extremely simple and transparent.

Construction companies can join the system at any stage of construction. They get access to the participants’ database and the right to present themselves to the platform participants and thereby attract investments.

What was presented?

BitRent’s founders presented the functionality of the platform and representatives of its strategic partner the construction giant Megaline
presented the very first facility – Unity Towers.

Unity Towers is a complex of three skyscrapers that combine the functions of a residential complex, a hotel, a modern business co-working center, an IT-Hub with an adjacent infrastructure with a separate parking building for 450 cars. The complex will be located in the resort area with a direct access to the Black Sea. This will be one of the key advantages for investors while choosing an investment object.

About BitRent

Platform participants, known as owners of RNTB-tokens (BitRent cryptocurrency
), have the right to directly influence the speed of construction of selected constructional objects. They can manage shares in projects at their discretion, buy and sell square meters.

“RNTB is a utility token, a payment method on a platform with a large amount of functions. 2018 can be called the year of the “Semantic Token”, when there is real business and a real sector of economy behind every crypto currency”, says the founder of the platform Dmitry Starovoitov.

Details on the features of BitRent can be found on the official site
https://bitrent.uk/.

 

The post The BitRent Platform Held a Closed Presentation for the Leaders of the Middle East Real-Estate Market appeared first on NewsBTC.

IMF Chief Lagarde sees crypto regulation as a must, customers need protection and money laundering must be prevented. #NEWS

The San Francisco state appeals court denied Ripple’s petition to appeal the order that dismissed its lawsuit against R3. #NEWS

The success of any business lies in its customer relationship strategy and its proper implementation. Marketing is the tool that is used to develop a customer base and maintain a healthy relationship with them. However, the traditional campaigns seem not so impressive in today’s highly competitive markets. Momentum, the world’s first marketing automation platform, revolutionizes the world of marketing by integrating the capabilities of blockchain technology. The ICO of the platform is starting from April 23, 2018.

About Momentum

Momentum is a platform having operations developed on the blockchain. It is the first ever cryptocurrency-based marketing automation platform where businesses are able to incentivize and reward their customers for their support, loyalty, and feedback. By revolutionizing the marketing, the platform serves as an innovative source for the businesses to develop their customer loyalty and long-term relationship successfully.

Businesses using this platform can reward customers in many ways, for instance, for purchasing a new product or giving a review of the product they used. This information is valuable for the businesses since it gives valuable insights into the customer trends, behavior, likes and dislikes, buying pattern and needs. Thus, they are able to improve their offerings and come up with personalized products in future to retain their best customers.

About Momentum Token

The native token of Momentum platform is its in-app crypto-token called MobileBridge. It is the token that the businesses will use on the platform to reward their customers in exchange for data insights and brand advocacy. In addition, this token is the loyalty token, gateway token, and a native currency of the platform that will be used for purchasing different offerings and features. The MobileBridge token gives token holders a share in the brand or the company that they support.

About the ICO & Bonus for the Investors

The company has announced the start its ICO from April 23, 2018, offering MobileBridge Tokens for 4 weeks or till the hard CAP is reached. The ICO will put 500,000,000 tokens on sale out of total 1,000,000,000 tokens. In addition, the company has announced the bonus scheme based on supply and volume of the tokens. Investors can earn the bonus as per the following structure

• First Week: Between 5% to 15% bonus
• Second Week: Between 3% to 10% bonus
• Third Week: Up to 5% bonus
• Fourth Week: No bonus

About the Team

The Momentum platform is backed and operated by an exceptionally talented and professional team having experience in cryptocurrency domain. The members belong to diverse geographical backgrounds including Germany, Switzerland, Israel, US, UK, and Netherlands. The team aims to integrate all the elements together of a successful and disrupting marketing automation blockchain platform for today’s businesses and customers.

To know more about the Momentum platform and its features, or to participate in its upcoming ICO, please visit https://www.momentumtoken.io/

The post Momentum, The First Crypto Marketing Automation Platform Announces ICO appeared first on NewsBTC.

Forbes

Hedera Hashgraph Thinks It Can One-Up Bitcoin And Ethereum With Faster Transactions Forbes So far, Hedera has raised $18 million in funding from accredited investors, including cryptocurrency holding company Digital Currency Group. The Hedera Hashgraph Platform, formerly known as Hashgraph, is not built on a blockchain, the technology that ... and more »

Hedera, a new public ledger developed by enterprise DLT software firm Swirlds, uses a patented codebase to prevent forking or cloning of the currency.

The cryptocurrency phenomenon has led to numerous scams on social media platforms. Companies that are claiming “guaranteed investment” and “no risk of losing money” are taking you to be a crypto-fool. There is no such thing as a guaranteed investment. On its face, investment comes with the risk of losing money.

So, how have these scams evolved?

Empty Promises

Initially, scammers would announce giveaways and contests, promising to send certain amounts of crypto (ETH, BTC, or LTC) to the “first 50 people” to respond or provide financial information. This allows scammers to gauge the types of responses they get, and then look to the followers of these individuals. That provides a sort of database for scammers to identify influencers and other popular accounts out there.

Post Manipulation

Next, scammers would create social media accounts similar to verified accounts, belonging to popular crypto-influencers. They would then leave comments on tweets containing high engagements, promising to send certain amounts of crypto to the address(es) provided. As such, individuals would share, re-tweet, and tag others in these posts, causing the scam posts to appear at the top of the page, or very close by the original tweets.

Account Manipulation

Another measure that scammers have taken is mirroring verified accounts. By either buying out verified accounts or changing their profile pictures, account names, and bios, these scammers are luring individuals away from the actual verified accounts they already follow to these “new” accounts designed to obtain highly sensitive financial information and, eventually, control of people’s digital assets.

What Are Platforms Doing To Minimize Scams?

Last week, Twitter announced that it was joining other platforms like Facebook in attempting to minimize fraud and deceptive trade practices by banning accounts that aim to steal individuals’ digital assets and financial information. “We are on it,” said Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, in reference to addressing cryptocurrency scams.

To that end, Twitter has greyed out accounts under review, with all tweets and pictures hidden. A message in the middle of the screen reads:

Caution: This profile may include potentially sensitive content. You’re seeing this warning because they Tweet potentially sensitive images or language. Do you still want to view it?

The message provides users the option to click “Yes, view profile” or to avoid viewing the account in question.

This move by Twitter is one of many recent efforts to minimize abusive or harmful accounts on the platform. “We’re working to identify accounts as they’re engaging in abusive behavior, even if the behavior hasn’t been reported to us,” said Ed Ho, Twitter’s VP of engineering. “Then, we’re taking action by limiting certain account functionality for a set amount of time, such as allowing only their followers to see their Tweets.”

These efforts aren’t scam-proof, and Twitter recognizes that it may make mistakes when it comes to taking these preventative measures. “We aim to only act on accounts when we’re confident, based on our algorithms, that their behavior is abusive. Since these tools are new, we will sometimes make mistakes, but know that we are actively working to improve and iterate on them [daily].”

Facebook has already begun taking measures against misleading and deceptive trade practices by, for instance, banning ads linked to cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, and binary options. However, some ads continue to get through.

With each day come new threats and novel solutions implemented in an attempt to counter those threats. Only time will tell what new threats and defensive strategies are enacted in the future.

Wyoming leads US states in introducing crypto-friendly legislation in an effort to attract tech business to the state. #NEWS