Day: March 23, 2018

After a relatively unsteady week, there’s not much to report on bitcoin’s price. At press time, the currency seems to be standing firm at $8,600 – a figure it reached just 24 hours ago.

Recent news stemming from Japan likely contributed to a four or five percent drop in bitcoin’s price during the early morning hours, though it appears the currency has recovered. Japanese regulators have issued an official warning to executives of Binance, one of the largest and most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in operation. The company largely works out of Hong Kong, but also does business in Japan.

Earlier today, financial authorities slammed Binance for allegedly operating in Japan without appropriate registration, and warned the company that if they didn’t comply with national law, they would face a potential suspension or shutdown. Binance has since announced that it is not being “shut down;” it is telling customers not to worry, and that they are working with Japan’s FSA to resolve the issue.

The good news is that some sources remain bullish on bitcoin’s price. Though it may be standing still for the time being, analysts predict a series of small, yet noticeable bull-runs, followed by a larger one that could last a solid few days. Advocates and traders are advised to keep their eyes open next week for a possible spike to $9,000. Right now, the primary goal appears to be breaking $8,800. Once this occurs, a bull-run series could easily be witnessed.

Interestingly, bitcoin has endured an up-and-down week, though in the long run, the coin has endured more highs than lows. In looking at recent news, this may be hard to believe at first glance, but considering bitcoin’s previous low of roughly $7,400 just last week, a $1,200 spike is looked at upon as a positive event, though there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Some sources say one of the biggest influences on the price jump may have been John Oliver’s mention of cryptocurrency during a March 11 episode of “Last Week Tonight.” Throughout the show, host Oliver made references to the “crypto mania” attacking the U.S. He commented on the speculative and volatile nature of cryptocurrencies, and the overall sentiment appeared to be one of negativity. Audiences were practically warned to stay away.

Yet from out of the ashes appeared bitcoin’s price, which has allegedly risen since crypto’s mention on the program. It appears the motives of the episode may have had a reverse effect; in mentioning digital currency, some audience members were likely introduced to the concept for the first time, and not wanting to lose out, chose to get in the game.

One specific asset, Eos, seems to be at the center of all the hype. Eos was especially criticized by Oliver, but the currency’s price has jumped nearly 35 percent since the episode aired. Investors ultimately bet on further “user adoption,” and Eos is now enjoying the world of double-digits.

In addition, the currency has garnered widespread popularity in South Korea, which accounts for nearly half of the world’s Eos trading. The U.S. is looking to follow in the country’s “investing footsteps,” and we’re likely to see it rise further amongst the globe’s top ten cryptocurrencies.

Edging toward the end of 2017, the lucrative bull ride that the markets were enjoying was beginning to look at little too good to be true, an outlook already proving to be true.

Bitcoin managed to build itself up to an all-time high at just over USD 20,000. At this point in time, every altcoin out there was piping hot.

That time is long past; the months following December and January have been miserable days of bearish trends which have seen cryptocurrency shed approximately 58% of all-time highs according to athcoinindex.com.

That does seem devastatingly low, but with good news starting to creep back in, especially after G20 outcomes, the days of the bear’s dominance could be coming to an end and it makes for a suitable time to see who thrived and who barely survived the crypto-winter of Q1 2018.

Doing Well Despite Adversity

Of the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap, ten managed pretty well despite the overall heavy crashes in the market:

• DigixDAO (-41.19%)
• Bytom (-51.61%)
• Litecoin (-57.72%)
• Aeternity (-58.06)
• Monero (-58.06%)
• Binance Coin (-60.72%)
• Decred (-61.22%)
• Ethereum Classic (-61.40%)
• OmiseGo (-62.18%)
• Ethereum (-63.92%)

Litecoin, DigixDAO and Bytom interestingly managed to keep themselves out of the eye of the storm, faring slightly better than the BTC bear.

DigixDAO appears to owe its resilience to the premise upon which it was built, which was to “tokenize gold on Ethereum”, giving it the ability to hold strong during volatile market periods. The cause for Bytom’s ability to hold up with the best of them remains somewhat of a mystery, but Monero, Litecoin and Ethereum were all expected to survive due to their popularity with online communities.

Hanging On by a Thread

This period of decline has shaken the hands of the strongest ‘hodlers’ around and there are some particularly notable names on this list of losers.

• ZCash (-96.07%)
• Bitcoin Gold (-89%)
• Ardor (-88.95%)
• Siacoin (-88.82%)
• Verge (-88.36%)
• TRON (-88.14%)
• NEM (-86.74)
• Cardano (-85.73%)
• Bytecoin (-85.65%)
• Hshare (-85.10)

ZCash had some great potential that gave focus to privacy and anonymity, yet suffered the biggest losses of all, losing out heavily to its rival Monero.

SiaCoin, the decentralized cloud storage platform, experienced a massive rise over December for reasons that weren’t quite so obvious but since then, the coin has been on a steep and sure decline. Bitcoin Gold took quite the hit, probably as it doesn’t quite share the same demand that its big brother (Bitcoin).

Despite these lists displaying relatively small margins between the top ten winner and the top ten losers, the market presses onwards and since the G20 summit, the negative trends look as though they could be on their way out.

As for the biggest losers, only time can really tell as to how things will shape up; BTC can swing upwards at steep inclines but if investors and hobbyist traders have lost total faith in some cryptocurrencies, it may only be a matter of time before they are relics of a brutal period in the crypto-world.

The post Bear Market Winds Down: The Top Ten Winners and Losers at A Glance appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

While much of the crypto world remains a speculative market for investments, exciting DApps are emerging on the Ethereum platform. Here are five DApps showing Ethereum is used for more than just investment purposes.

5. Augur – The Predictive Markets Dapp

Augur leverages the hive mind of crowds to make real-time predictions using actual money. Since investors essentially bet on their predictions and earn a reward when their predictions are right, there’s a strong incentive to only place good bets. Predictive markets have been shown to be more accurate than individual predictions from analysts and traditional survey polls. Essentially, when you’re asked to bet specifically on what will happen, you’ll make the most accurate guess. Other projects such as Gnosis are attempting this as well.

Project updates: The Augur beta is running on the testnet. Developers are checking for potential vulnerabilities and plan to launch Augur in the next few months.

4. BlockCAT – The Coding Shortcut Dapp

BlockCAT is opening up smart contracts to everyone by creating a visual interface that helps with backend coding needs. That means even non-coders can set the terms of a smart contract and deploy it easily on Ethereum. For P2P and B2B, this visual smart contract solution is an exciting way to start using the Ethereum blockchain to streamline business.

Project updates: BlockCAT just launched Tabby Pay on its mainnet this week. Tabby Pay is a smart contract that prevents user error by allowing you to cancel a transaction if you realize you’ve sent it to the wrong Ethereum address. For now, it’s free on tabby.io.

3. FunFair – The Gaming Smart Contracts Dapp

FunFair combines Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities with “fun, fast, fair” gaming opportunities for casinos. Establishing trust is one of the biggest obstacles for new online gaming sites, and FunFair brings the transparency of smart contracts to help players and new online casinos ensure fair play.

Project updates: FunFair is recruiting online casino and gaming companies. It plans to launch its first operator soon. Its showcase gives an idea of what linking a wallet with an online casino platform would look like, and it’s fun to try out.  

2. Etherdelta – The Exchange Dapp

EtherDelta is a decentralized Ethereum and ERC-20 token exchange. New tokens are often listed here before Binance and Bittrex, giving an early advantage to buyers. Unlike centralized exchanges, there’s no requirement to store one’s money on the exchange, and there’s much higher security. Other competitors built on Ethereum include Kyber and Airswap for trading ERC-20s.

Project updates: Etherdelta is live and running. Though its website has been attacked in the past with very little damage done, the decentralized exchange itself remains much less vulnerable to hacks than centralized exchanges.

1. Golem – The Computing Dapp

The promise of Golem is a worldwide supercomputer source where anyone can be a processing power provider and receive tokens in return.

Project updates: Brass Golem is the first software launch available for download as a testnet. The focus of this first project is offering processing power for graphic and video applications, so Blender and LuxRender artists and computing providers can try it out in the alpha stage.

In promising news concerning government adoption of distributed ledger technology, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is looking to leverage blockchain in order to build a more secure and efficient identification system. This is according to a patent titled “Methods and Systems For A Digital Trust Architecture,” filed yesterday, March 22nd.

The filing reads: “as more of life’s daily interactions move to online activities, it is apparent that the tools that provide trust to the users are lacking in their ability to adequately provide a desired level of security. Tools that have evolved from physical interactions, like face-to-face communication, and the ability to “go there” to resolve issues, are not possible in a digital environment.”

USPS: Trust and Security

As per the application, in an increasingly digitized world, the agency’s current system doesn’t provide the desired levels of trust and security — it specifically cites concerns such as transaction tampering and insecure messaging. In providing a solution to the security and trust issues that plague USPS users, the agency believes that provisioning a secure digital infrastructure will provide a more secure messaging and authentication service. The filing references the use of email as a form of digital signature, but at the same time recognizes the security limitations of these centralized platforms. 

The application reads: “There are many excellent reasons for online interactions to continue as they have been. However, in a multi-party, open source environment, there is also a need for a secure, trusted, and enforceable online environment, to enable greater trust and therefore an expansion of offerings online.”

To combat this, the USPS has proposed a system that leverages blockchain, public and private identification keys, and email integrated into decentralized systems. It also calls for a blockchain component that “may be configured to receive records from the user and add the records to a blockchain.”

Also of note: The Postal Service’s application highlights the use of a “special digital token.” Per the text, the token is used to create a record for the user for inclusion in a blockchain: “The block chaining of a special digital token provides evidence that a specific transaction occurred, and specifically who was involved.”

Yesterday’s application is the first thing to materialize from the Postal Service with regards to blockchain, but it likely won’t be the last: in 2016 a report from the USPS suggested that the mail carrier was considering creating its own cryptocurrency as well as using related technology for supply chain applications.

The post United States Postal Service Files Patent Application for Blockchain-Based Techs appeared first on NewsBTC.

The US market suffered significant losses on Thursday after President Trump announced extensive new trade tariffs on China. As Trump stokes the possibility of a trade war between the two countries, this presents the opportunity for wide-scale adoption of cryptocurrencies as a medium of exchange.

In the realm of finance, speculation is everything and uncertainty is the adversary. The tariffs enacted by the US could cost Chinese exports over USD 50 billion per year, and it is unlikely the Chinese government will not take action in retaliation. The Dow Jones has already plummeted over 700 points since the announcement, while the impending response from China is likely to agitate international markets further. Late Thursday, China’s embassy in Washington released a statement, saying “China’s not afraid of, and will not recoil from a trade war.”

The tariffs have been designed to tackle the supposed undercutting of US labor by China. While this provides a valid resolution to the issue in theory, often tariffs unintentionally lead to suffering in other areas of the economy. US economists have reported it is the likely the American consumer that will bear the costs.

Might an unstable dollar make cryptocurrency attractive?

When the effects are felt, speculation suggests the US economy will deteriorate, resulting in the weakening of the USD. When a fiat currency experience unstable conditions, a popular option is to store wealth in alternative areas, such as cryptocurrencies. Individuals and businesses alike may turn to the use of cryptocurrencies to avoid the volatile conditions of the US market.

Considering the extensive levels of international trade that the US conducts, this could bring an entirely new market of cryptocurrency users on a global scale. It is likely that once cryptocurrencies are adopted by users, the significant benefits attached to using them will encourage them not to return to fiat currency.

Additionally, transactions made with cryptocurrencies are not subject to any tariff levies, although indeed the legality of these cryptocurrency exchanges might come into question.

There are factors that could hinder the successful widespread adoption of cryptocurrency, however. Depending on the severity of the effects of the trade war, a sustained bear market could be triggered. This could lead to a lack of liquid investment funds to inject into the cryptocurrency market, bringing it into a similar situation as the potential bear market of the US economy.

Some cryptocurrency pundits make the argument that as financial market fears increase, the price of Bitcoin will decrease and vice versa.

Whatever the results of the potential trade war, it will be interesting to keep a close watch on the reaction of the cryptocurrency market to the turbulence of such two prominent fiat currencies.

The post What The US Tariffs On China Could Mean For Cryptocurrencies appeared first on BitcoinNews.com.

A group of hackers are demanding payment in Bitcoin to unlock computer systems they were able infiltrate in Atlanta. Yesterday’s ransomware attack targeted computers in important government departments. Data stored on the affected systems has been digitally encrypted.

Another Case of Bitcoin Ransomware

The security breach was first reported via a statement by the city on Thursday morning. The following was later posted to Atlanta’s official Twitter account:

The City of Atlanta is currently experiencing outages on various customer facing applications, including some that customers may use to pay bills or access court-related information. We will post any updates as we receive them. pic.twitter.com/kc51rojhBl

— City of Atlanta, GA (@Cityofatlanta) March 22, 2018

According to local news source 11 Alive, the hackers are demanding a ransom of $6,800 be paid for each affected computer system. A screen shot sent to the publication from an employee of the city shows that the entire cost will be $51,000. This is to be paid in Bitcoin. Andrew Green, a security expert and professor at Kennesaw State University, is reported to be analysing the document. If the hackers receive said bounty, they will apparently decrypt the data that has been compromised.

The mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, made an official announcement regarding the hacking yesterday afternoon. She stated in an impromptu press conference that the full gravity of the attack was unknown at present. She also offered a warning to anyone who had business or consumer relationships with city departments. She said:

“We don’t know the extent or if anyone’s personal data or bank accounts will be compromised… All of us are subject to this attack.”

Despite the extent of the security breach being unknown at present, Atlanta’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Cox claimed that water, public safety, and airport operations were not affected. He continued:

“City payroll has not been affected and we have not determined that City Hall will need to be closed on Friday.”

There have been no further updates from government officials on the situation since.

According to 11 Alive, officials will be working with security experts from a variety of companies, as well as specialists from federal and local government departments to discover any evidence that might relate to the incident. These include the FBI, the US Department of Homeland Security, Cisco, and Microsoft. They hope that together they’ll be able to work out a solution or at least who is responsible for the attack.

Whilst Fortune are calling this hack “one of the boldest ransomware attacks to date”, it’s certainly not the first time computer systems have been frozen and payment demanded in Bitcoin to unlock them. Last year, we reported on the infamous WannaCry ransomware attack that affected computers across the planet. This was later connected to the North Korean government.

The post Hackers Target Atlanta Government Computers, Bitcoin Ransom Demanded appeared first on NewsBTC.

Jack Dorsey, the brains behind Twitter and Square, has once again expressed his support for cryptocurrencies. In his most recent interview, Dorsey predicted that Bitcoin will be the only currency used for internet transactions in the coming 5-10 years.

Speaking with British publication The Times, Dorsey said that even with the value slump that Bitcoin has been experiencing for the past couple of months, he sees no discernible long-term problem for the crypto powerhouse. In his view, Bitcoin will not only make a comeback but also seep into the market to the point that it will be usable for facilitating everyday transactions such as buying a pack of cigarettes or a cup of coffee.

He went on to add:

The world ultimately will have a single currency, the internet will have a single currency. I personally believe that it will be bitcoin. While the shift may take place over a period of ten years, it definitely is a big possibility.

While Dorsey remains realistic and acknowledges that Bitcoin is still fairly expensive and slow in its overall functionality, such challenges can easily be sorted out as adoption of the currency increases globally. He went on to add that, with the amazing amount of innovation that is coming from within the blockchain sector, it is only a matter of time until someone designs a scalable platform that will help make the adoption process quicker and more efficient.

Dorsey’s vested interests

Just last week, Dorsey announced that he was investing in a startup called Lightning Labs. For readers who don’t know about this venture, Lightning Labs has developed an all-new “open-protocol layer” on top of the existing Bitcoin blockchain. It not only allows for faster transaction speeds but also helps maximize the efficiency of the various network nodes deployed by the system.

Additionally, Dorsey’s other big project, Square, allows users to trade Bitcoin using its Cash app. Not only that, Square was also one of the first platforms to facilitate real-time BTC transactions, but due to the volatility of Bitcoin, the service was short-lived.

Final Thoughts

Even though an endorsement of this sort has been welcomed by the crypto community at large, the fact that Twitter is planning to ban ICO and crypto ads is not only surprising but also very confusing.

Following Facebook and Google’s decisions to ban such ads, it will be interesting to see if Dorsey, a lifelong supporter of crypto, caves into federal pressure and blocks ICO-related ads from his social media juggernaut.

The IRS sent U.S. taxpayers a reminder Friday to pay taxes on any gains made from trading cryptocurrencies over the last year – including payments.

Edward Snowden suggests Bitcoin may not be the ultimate currency of the future. #NEWS

Malaysia working on Blockchain implementation to avoid ‘Kodak moment’, says central bank. #NEWS

British contemporary artist Philip Colbert has long been considering creating his own catalog system to prove the authenticity of his expanding collection: enter Rob Norton, the founder of Verisart, a U.S.-based startup that’s using blockchain to verify the authenticity of artwork.

As we know, blockchain creates an immutable record of every transaction — whether it be art, labor and land, or cryptocurrencies. Widespread adoption of the technology could give a boost to the market for art online, which has yet to explode. Online sales currently account for only about 8%, or $5.4 billion, of the global art market, according to a report by UBS Group AG and Art Basel released this month.

“Art is a currency in a way; at the end of the day when they come to auction, the provenance is a very important element of their value.”

Trust, or lack of it, is at the core of the challenge, with potential buyers balking at the possibility of spending considerable sums on works whose authenticity can’t be fully verified. In fact, according to Norton, the value of fake art sold is almost double the real thing.

When it comes to art, “there’s a higher hurdle of trust that you have to clear, you have to know that what you’re buying is real,” said Norton. “Art is the second-largest unregulated market after illicit drugs and it’s significantly overshadowed by fraudulent activity. You can accelerate trust and liquidity by providing better standards for verifiable, global certification.”

Verisart

Verisart started in 2015 as a phone app that permitted artists to create their own systems of art verification. When that approach didn’t take off as expected, the company built a web app working with Ahmed Elgammal, a computer science professor at Rutgers University.

“We were a little bit early, we were figuring out where the market was, getting feedback from artists, and building a platform that people could use,” Norton said. “Now increasingly working with partners, those certificates can be customized.”

Colbert’s certificates, for example, contain small reproductions of the piece itself called “image hashes,” along with all of the relevant information about its creation, ownership, and movement — such as whether it was part of an exhibition.

“The blockchain is a more efficient method of verification,” Colbert said. “You’re not worried about the authentic value of your work, because it’s all about locking down the time and place. Then all those fakes aren’t doing you any damage. All those fake Mona Lisas don’t do the Mona Lisa any harm.”

Ultimately, putting art on the blockchain could lead to a decentralized art registry that would cover a significant amount of the world’s art. Although blockchain certification on its own may increasingly turn into a generic service, potentially being explored by big players such as Alphabet, Facebook, and Microsoft, Norton hopes Verisart’s ability to allow artists to customize their own certificates and image hashes will give it a competitive edge.

The post Verisart: Using Blockchain to Verify the Authenticity of Art appeared first on NewsBTC.

Most people are familiar with the company Payza. This particular service provider integrated cryptocurrency payments quite some time ago. It now seems the US government has taken a rather harsh course of action against Payza. The company faces charges of running an unlicensed money services business.

US Government Cracks Down on Payza

Any company dealing with cryptocurrencies will irate the US government sooner or later. In the case of Payza, the charges against them are quite steep right now. Running an unlicensed money services business is subject to severe penalties and even jail time. It is evident this is not the outcome most people were hoping for, as it puts cryptocurrency in the crosshairs of regulators once again.

So far, one of the company’s co-founders has been arrested, whereas his brother is still at large. Both Ferhan and Firoz Patel are charged with facilitating up to $250 million in money laundering. This money belongs to child pornography sites, darknet users, Ponzi schemes, and so forth. It is a long laundry list of charges which should not be taken lightly by any means.

What makes this story extremely worrisome is that Payza has close ties to the cryptocurrency industry. The service lets users conveniently buy Bitcoin and a few other currencies. Bitcoin support was first introduced back in 2014, and several altcoins were added in late 2017. It seems all of these integrations have been successful for the company, although it is unclear if any cryptocurrency was involved in the alleged money laundering.

For now, the court filing does not make any mention of cryptocurrency whatsoever. It is evident there are plenty of allegations that cryptocurrencies are used to launder money associated with criminal activities. So far, very few of those claims have held up, simply because the cryptocurrency industry is not big enough to move around large amounts of money without detection.

The big question is how all of this will affect the thousands of Payza users around the world. Since so much money was laundered through this particular payment service, users of Payza may have been affected by this tainted money in one way or another. Considering that this money was transferred over the course of six years, the full scope of this operation will not become clear for quite some time.

Surprisingly, the filing also mentions two other major online payment processors which have been caught up in this scheme. Both AlertPay and EgoPay have been under the control of the Patel brothers as well. EgoPay isn’t around any longer, as it was shut down in 2015. AlertPay is still around these days, and it will be interesting to see how this news affects that company.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office said cumbersome U.S. financial regulations are inhibiting innovation by distributed ledger tech startups.